Lost N' Loud
by PixelCatThe1st
Summary: Christian had been leading a regular life his whole life. But when he's suddenly launched into the Loud family's shenanigans by chance, how is he gonna survive? I need to give special thanks to my best friend StudioKarkats! They read the first couple of chapters/gave me hope/drew the cover image! This is my first fanfiction I've published, criticism appreciated!
1. Hot Cocoa

For the first time in a long while, longer than Lynn Sr. and Rita could remember, the Loud house was filled with almost complete silence. The loudest thing to be heard was the occasional gust of wind outside. Winter was slowly receding, the snow melting gradually and sun beginning to show itself again. The worst thing outside was the wind, which felt like a slap to the face on a particularly bad gust.

It was through a series of coincidences that the almost all of the Loud children were not home: Lori had gone ice skating with none other than Bobby, Leni and Lola were at the mall, taking advantage of an unexpected sale due to a shipping mix up. Luna was out attending a winter concert (a normal concert but outside in the cold, which didn't deter her in the slightest). Luan was working a Winter-themed birthday party, having planned the whole routine around as many Winter puns as possible. Lynn had gone to play ice hockey with Lincoln and Lana. Lucy had left the house to find dark inspirations from the cold and dead outdoors. Particularly the leafless trees. Finally, Lisa had a lesson to give at the Royal Woods university.

The only sibling left was the youngest, Lily, who was swaddled in her crib. Rita was on the couch, bundled up in a warm and fuzzy blanket, waiting for her husband to return from the kitchen with hot chocolate.

It was what they did whenever the majority of the children were gone: bundle up on the couch, slowly sip hot chocolate, and watch a movie together. It was what they had tended to do when they had first started to date, and had tried to continue whenever possible over the years, although family matters often got in the way. It was a throwback to simpler, easier, and significantly less stressful times.

Moments of calm like these helped her put everything into perspective, allowed her to fairly judge, sometimes even question the fairly insane lifestyle she led. It made her think of all the other places she could've ended up. Not like they were serious thoughts, her family was, in her eyes, undeniably her greatest achievement. Despite the high maintenance, she wouldn't trade it for the world. But still, she felt it was a good thing to relax and call back to those roots. God knows she could use a break from time to time.

She shut her eyes, raised her head, slowly inhaled through the nose and exhaled out the mouth. She could feel the calm in her chest. Oh yeah, a break was most certainly _needed_ from time to time.

She heard footsteps coming from her left and tracked them to directly behind her. She opened her eyes, an amused look on Lynn's face greeting her, although a little more upside down than usual.

"Don't tell me you're falling asleep already, we haven't even begun the movie!" he teased, a sly grin on his face.

"I don't know Lynn, if this movie is as bad as the last one you chose, I might not be able to help it…" she teased back, a grin forming to match his.

His grin went into a full smile. "Hey, you and I both know that you loved Jack and Jill, whether you'll admit it or not!"

She chuckled at his joking accusation. Even though he was a little right in an ironic way, but he didn't have to know that. "Lynn, you and I both know that the only love I have is for you and the children."

He chuckled at statement. "Well don't you have a heart of gold."

He leaned in and met her lips with his, one of countless kisses, but just as meaningful. The kiss ended, perhaps a little too soon for the both of them, but that could always be corrected later. Maybe they shouldn't, they already have eleven children.

"Lynn? Rita asked. "Do you have any regrets?"

"What do you mean?" Lynn asked.

"I don't know, I've just been thinking about how we ended up. With eleven children and all. I don't mean it in a bad way," she assured " I was just wondered how different things could've been."

He held his chin in his hand, rolling over the question in his head. Regrets? He re-ran his life in his head, analyzing the highs and lows points. The worst thing in recent memory was the skinny dipping incident at the hotel, but other than that, nothing. Thankfully the kids never learned about that.

"Well, that's a toughy. There are some embarrassing moments I'd rather forget," he awkwardly smiled, the confrontation at the hotel forefront in his mind, "but on the whole I think everything has worked out wonderfully, I don't really have any regrets!" The awkward smile less awkward.

Rita nodded in agreement. She had come to that conclusion multiple times, but it felt a little relieving to hear it from someone else. Although she'd take back the skinny dipping incident if she could. Thankfully the kids will never learn that happened.

"Although if there was one thing I sort of regret, it's that we never were able to give Lincoln a brother."

Rita's eyebrows raised as she remembered again. She didn't think about it often, so often she forgot that Lincoln was the only male sibling out of eleven children, leaving him the odd one out of his siblings. It was weird out of the eleven children, only one had been a boy. How did that happen?

"Thankfully he doesn't seem to mind much, but he could've used the backup." Lynn Sr. chuckled to himself.

Both of them knew how it often fell upon Lincoln to resolve tensions and problems within the siblings. He was essential to keeping the house as relatively peaceful as could be allowed. The couple joked that role was why Lincoln's hair was white at such a young age, and another son could've helped prevent that.

"Oh well, we have all the children we'll ever need, anyways. Any others would just be cherry on the sundae!" Lynn Sr. declared, hands on hips with pride on his smile on his face, and Rita smiled in return.

Suddenly, a loud beep was heard from the kitchen."Ooh, hot chocolate's done! I'll be back in a moment!" Lynn Sr. said as he walked out of the room.

Rita relaxed again as slowly inhaled and exhaled again. She yawned, and realized she might actually fall asleep, which would defeat the purpose of watching the movie and drinking hot chocolate. Maybe she could wait until the half hour mark, then she could…

She suddenly heard her husband gasp, and the heard the back door slide open.

"Lynn? Honey?" She called out, but he must've been out of earshot

What was her husband doing? She begrudgingly rose from the comfort of the couch and began to walk to the kitchen when she heard him panting as he ran into the kitchen.

She turned the corner to see her husband out of breath, holding in his arms what looked like a… teenage boy?

"Lynn, what-?"

"I-walked-into-kitchen-to-get-the-hot-chocolate-and-I-looked-out-the-window-and-saw-something-in-the-snow-and-I-realized-it-was-a-person-so-I-ran-out-to-bring-him-inside-and-I...and I…", he coughed as he tried to catch his breath.

Rita reached out to put her hand on his shoulder when she noticed his arms begin to shake intensely.

"Lynn, you need to put him-" his arms gave out, and the teen fell to the ground.

Both of the adults froze, staring at the teen now on the floor. The boy groaned in pain, but remained unconscious.

"-down."

Rita slowly knelt down to the teen. She reached for his neck and checked his pulse. It didn't feel abnormal, but she could feel how cold his neck was, which was little concerning. Otherwise, he didn't seem to be in too bad of a shape. She got up and placed her hands on her hips, trying to figure out the best course of action.

Lynn Sr. spoke up in-between breathes."I...I didn't mean to-".

"I know, honey." She reassured him, finally placing her hand on his shoulder. He was hunched over, eyes closed and shaking his head. She hoped he wasn't beating himself up over it for whatever reason he may have conjured up. He was the more emotional one, so that wasn't out of the question.

She looked down at the boy. He was wearing a thin gray zip up hoodie, with a pair of mostly black jeans. His generic white sneakers were fairly dirty. His dark brown hair was unkempt and flat, fairly unclean. He was pale, almost as pale as the snow that covered parts of his body.

Who was he? Why was he unconscious outdoors in this weather? In their backyard nonetheless? She shook her head: questions could wait, they needed to act.

"He's fine, but he's cold, we're going to need to warm him up." She said

Lynn was breathing almost normally now. "Let's bring him to our room, he can use our bed until he wakes up". Rita nodded, and leaned down to begin dragging him. Lynn Sr. raised a hand. "One more minute...I'm still a little winded." Rita's eyebrows furrowed.

After a minute, they both dragged him from the kitchen through the dining room and living room into their room. The boy's clothes weren't clean, so Rita stripped him down to his white t-shirt and boxers, and placed his glasses on the night stand, along with the phone and wallet that were in his pockets. It wasn't the first time she had undressed an unconscious child, but normally it was her own children and not a mysterious boy who appeared in their backyard. It was weird, but motherly instinct made it second-nature, so it didn't really affect her.

"Lynn, put his clothes in the wash, please?" Rita asked as she held out the boy's clothes.

Lynn Sr. nodded, taking the clothes and exiting the room, closing the door behind him. Rita looked upon the boy. He was under the sheets, and an ever faint smile had formed on his face. She smiled back in relief. He muttered something in his sleep, but she couldn't hear what was actually said. It was almost like he wasn't just outside unconscious in the cold. Speaking of which, the question of "why were you taking a nap outside in our backyard' was foremost in her list of questions. But that'd have to wait until he awoke, and that could be a while given the cold outdoors and being dropped to the floor didn't wake him.

She thought about what else she could do, given the essentials were out of the way. And then she remembered the hot chocolate: there should be enough for more to be made. The boy would probably appreciate the warm beverage upon waking up, she knew she would.

She walked to the door and opened it, looking back at the sleeping boy. She couldn't help but chuckle to herself. So much for a peaceful, stress-free afternoon.


	2. Loud Awakening

When he first woke up, the first thing he noticed was the bed. The soft, warm bed. He remembered feeling cold at first, but now all he felt was soft and warm. But he didn't recognize the bed. The way it had molded into his shape, the texture of the blanket: it wasn't any bed he recognized.

He wanted to try and get up, try to figure out where he was exactly, but his eyes wouldn't open, nor could he will his body into moving. His barely-awake mind didn't have the processing power resigned to the bed, and fell back asleep.

When he woke up the second time, he noticed the new scent of hot chocolate. This and the sleep he had gotten finally willed him to slowly open his eyes. He lifted himself up, and even without his glasses and with the blur of having just woken up, he could tell instantly that this wasn't anyplace he recognized.

The pinkish color of the wall gave it away almost instantly: he was pretty sure he had never seen any room with that color in his life. The purple color of the bed another thing he was pretty sure he also had never seen before. The chair in the corner and the dresser helped reaffirm to him what he already knew: this place was a completely new place to him.

With that established, the next thing in his mind was the obvious question: where the hell was he? He tried to think back to before he had fallen asleep. He knew he hadn't been home. He left the house, and...God, he couldn't even remember. It was hard to tell what was a dream and what was real. Did he stay at his friend's' house? Or did he pass out outside? If that was the case, why outside?

Nothing really felt real at that moment. Here he was, waking up in some random bedroom of some random place and for what reason, he didn't actually even know. His whole body felt off, like his body knew it was in uncharted territory and was experiencing its own personal discomfort. It almost felt like a dream, but he could actually think and feel and...smell the hot chocolate.

He looked to his right and saw a white mug filled with the brown chocolate drink. He could only assume it was meant for him. No one just left hot chocolate next to a sleeping person for them not to drink it,

Slowly reached over and grabbed its handle, tightening his grip extra hard just to make sure it was real. He grabbed the mug with his other hand: it didn't feel it _too_ hot. With both hands he brought the drink just in front of his lips. He softly blew into the mug, and then with excessive care, he slowly, methodically brought the drink to his lips. He opened them slightly, then cautiously sipped.

It hit his tongue, and to his relief it didn't burn. It was the perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold. He filled the rest of his mouth with the drink, letting it sit for a moment just to take in the flavor: he chocolaty, sweet, and sugary flavor worked wonders on his tongue. It felt like the 4th of July in his mouth. Although he felt his tongue might've been over-reacting to not having had hot chocolate in a while. He couldn't tell nor did he actually care.

He swallowed, and he could feel the warmth develop in his chest. This, combined with the warmth of the room, made him feel a little overheated. He lifted the covers of the bed to ventilate his lower half. When he did, he realized that he was down to just his shirt and briefs. It felt… uncomfortable to know he had been vulnerable and unconscious like that, to the point where he had been undressed without his knowledge. But he was a bed, presumably dragged from outside, and given hot chocolate by complete strangers, so he felt a little better about the fact. They clearly did it with the best intentions, and he couldn't help but feel nothing but gratitude to whomever had helped him.

He shifted his legs so that they were hanging of the side of the bed. He put the mug back down, and only then noticed his phone and his wallet on the nightstand. At least he wasn't mugged or something. He placed his hand on his lap, and just stared at his bare feet. He was trying to think of what to think of. The only dominate thought was of how utterly pissed his mom and stepdad had to have been at that moment. He looked at his phone, and felt his gut swell up with anxiety at the thought of the inevitable conversation. _"What were you thinking walking out of the house and not coming home? We couldn't have known where the hell you were! What if you got hurt and we couldn't find you?!"_

He shook his head, trying to get the hypothetical verbal lashing out of his head. How could he known this would've happened? _"Oh yeah Mom, I totally passed out in some random place in the middle of winter and needed to be taken in by some kindly strangers who I'm self-obligated to be permanently indebted to!_ _Maybe this wouldn't have had happened if you-"_

The door to his right opened, and his heart skipped a couple of beats. In walked a blonde woman with wide hips, wearing a pink shirt and purplish pants. He was scrambling, having not thought of how this conversation with his rescuers would go before hand, and mentally cursed himself for not preparing. The woman noticed that he was up and stopped moving, and the two made eye contact.

Rita hadn't expected him to have woken up in between the hot chocolate delivery and now, but yet again she hadn't expected him to have happened at all. He looked at her and she could see she caught him off guard. He looked like a kid hand deep into the cookie jar being caught, and had gone rigid.

"Oh, you're awake! Are you feeling alright?" She asked with a motherly tone.

The boy relaxed a little, but still seemed anxious. "Uh, yeah, I just woke up, but I feel fine." Rita saw the nervousness in his eyes. Why would he feel nervous?

He continued. "Thank you, for, uh, bringing me in like this. I don't know what to say, honestly". He said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, and the hot chocolate. That was a nice touch." The boy nervously smiled.

Rita chuckled to herself at the boy's timid and polite thank you. "You don't have to say anything: we couldn't just leave you outside to freeze to death could we?"

The boy sniggered at question. "I don't know dude, it probably would've been easier to just leave me, I could've handled it." The boy smiled at his own statement, the nervousness Rita had seen quickly evaporating. She laughed, laughing mostly at his complete 180, which caused him to laugh. The laughter faded, a smile on both of their faces

Rita had to ask. "How did you end up in our backyard anyway?" The boy's smile was replaced with a puzzled look.

"Your...backyard?" He asked. He couldn't remember all the specifics from before he had woken up, but he couldn't remember ever going into a backyard, or why he would've ended up like that.

"My husband, Lynn, he saw you from our kitchen window laying in our backyard. He rushed outside and brought you back in." Lynn accidentally dropping the boy on the floor flashed in her head, but the boy didn't need to know that. "What were you doing back there?"

"I...don't know?" The boy's tone made the statement seem like a question. Rita gained the same confused look as the boy. "I generally make it a point _not_ to trespass and take naps on other people's property, so I wouldn't know why I was in your backyard, ma'am."

Rita smiled at the boy's formality. Whoever he was, he was definitely polite. "Please dear, call me Rita."

The boy gained back his smile. "My name's Christian."

"Well it's pleasure to meet you, Christian." Rita replied.

A question popped in Christian's head that he had to ask while it made sense. "Uhm, so uh, which suburb are we in right now?"

Rita once again had the confused look. Suburb? They lived in a suburb, yes, but there weren't multiple suburbs like the question implied. It was all just Royal Woods.

"Suburb? We're in Royal Woods." Christian eyes seemed to become slightly fearful.

"Royal Woods? Where is that?" There were multiple suburbs in his area, and although he couldn't remember all of them of the top of his head, 'Royal Woods' would've been one to remember due to the unique name. And the probability that a name like "Royal Woods" would've meant another rich kid school to compete with.

"It's in Michigan".

Michigan.

…

Michigan?

"What."

Rita's eyebrow raised. "What do you mean, what?" She was getting nervous, as he began to look terrified.

"I..I live in Chicago. I fell asleep in Chicago, how did I end up in Michigan? That doesn't...that...gah, what?" He was confused and utterly horrified. How the hell had he ended in Michigan? How had he screwed up so badly he ended up passed out in Michigan? He ceased to have any idea of what was going on anymore, and that completely filled him with total existential dread. His voice became shaky, his breathing began to become uneven. He held his head in his hands, fingers going through his hair. His eyes began to redden and water. "That- that doesn't make..what-I…"

Rita could recognize that Christian was on the cusp of breaking down, her motherly instincts kicking in before it got out of hand. "Christian, Christian, Christian…" she placed both of her hands on his shoulders, making the scared boy look up at her, water beginning to pool up "Honey, I don't know how this happened or how you ended up here, but I promise you we're going to help you and make sure everything will be okay! I promise." Her voice was filled with the kindness and sincerity only a mother could provide.

Christian looked at her, the words registering in his mind. The words brought a comfort that he could barely describe, but they made him knew she was telling the truth: everything was going to be okay.

He could barely comprehend it, this utterly benevolent women had brought him into her home, made him feel comfortable, had given him kindness out of nothing but the good within her heart. Despite the utterly horrifying circumstances, and the fear running in his mind, this woman made him feel safe and secure.

He finally broke down, beginning to silently cry, tears running down his face. He hugged Rita, and she held him back. He felt her rub his back, and quietly _shh_ him as if he were her own kin. It made him more comfortable, so he began to cry harder. His sobs became more audible, but were muffled into Rita's chest.

Between the sobs and the breathes for air, Christian managed to compose himself long enough for two words. "Thank...you", as he continued to sob silently into the woman he barely knew.


	3. Clean Up

Once he composed himself fully, Rita noticed Christian seemed almost ashamed of his breakdown. His voice was lowered, his head was held low and his eyes were trying to avoid hers.

To her, there was no shame in what he did: he had awoken a whole state away from home with no clue how he ended up there. Being scared like that would've happened to anyone. Maybe not the crying necessarily, but there was nothing wrong with that, either.

She knew there wasn't much to make him feel better. The only thing she could do was help him in anyway she could.

The two had come up with a game plan: Christian would take a shower and dress himself with a pair of slacks and a new white t-shirt courtesy of Lynn Sr. Afterwards, he would call his parents, inform them of his current predicament and they'd figure out the best way to get him home.

When Rita had brought up calling his parents, Christian seemed to freeze like when she had walked in and startled him. He shakily agreed, something she also took note of. She could only guess he was afraid of the possible repercussions from being so far from home. If he wasn't lying, not like she assumed he was from how genuine he came across, they wouldn't have much reason to be mad at him, would they?

Rita handed Christian a towel, the t-shirt, and slacks. He put on the slacks, not wanting to just walk around in his benefactors home in his briefs: that'd just be indecent.

"Go up the stairs and the bathroom will be the last room on the left; you can't miss it." she instructed him.

He finished buttoned on the slacks, which were a little tight, but at this rate he felt he had no right to complain.

"Thank you. Again, for everything." He nervously smiled at her.

"Again, no need to thank us." She smiled back, reassuringly. "Lynn might be out there when you leave, so don't forget to explain to him why you're wearing his pants."

His nervous smile became a regular smile. "Don't worry, that won't be too hard to forget."

He made his way to the door, reaching for the knob before halting. He turned around, swiftly grabbed the mug and chugged the rest of his hot chocolate. He placed the mug down and just as swiftly left the room. Rita couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's priorities. She set to straightening out the bed before explaining the story to her husband.

As Christian walked out of the room, he saw that he had walked into the living room. He couldn't help but notice the interesting layout choice made. He could see the couch, and sitting there was a man with curly brown hair. Christian figured that was his rescuer, Lynn. Lynn turned around, and Christian realized he was thinning at the front. Couldn't be happening to anyone who deserved it the least, in his opinion anyways. The man seemed surprised that the boy was walking out and not his wife.

"Well, looks our guest has finally awoken! How ya feelin, sport?" Christian couldn't help feeling comfortable with Lynn's lack of formality.

"A lot better than when you found me. I...I honestly can't thank you enough for bailing me out there, sir." Lynn laughed at the boy's formality.

"Please kiddo, just call me Lynn." He extended his hand to Christian from the couch.

Christian likewise extending his hand and shook Lynn's, being sure to not limp fish it. "My name's Christian." Lynn was impressed with the firm handshake he had received.

"How did you end up in our backyard, anyways?" Lynn asked.

Christian shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. If you want to know more, I told Rita everything I know."

Lynn noticed the t-shirt and towel the boy was carrying, and then noticed him wearing a pair of his slacks. "You about to take a shower?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah, I was. Hope you don't mind me using some of your clothes." Christian answered.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Just make sure you don't go dirtying them up like your other clothes."

The boy laughed lightly at the order. "That's the plan, man".

"Welp, don't let me keep you from what you were doing." Lynn said.

Christian nodded, walking to and beginning to walk up the stair. He stopped, and turned towards the couch.

"Thank you again."

Lynn looked up the boy and laughed. "Don't mention it!"

Satisfied with that, Christian went up the rest of the stairs. Once the boy was out of eyesight, Lynn sighed in relief. Thankfully the boy neither knew about nor seem affected by him dropping him onto the kitchen floor. That was a weight off his mind.

He heard the bedroom door open and close behind him, and turned to see his wife carrying a mug. She walked over and planted a kiss onto the top of his head.

"So," he asked "what's the skinny with him?"

"It's...complicated."

Once Christian had made it up the stairs, he noticed the large amount of doors on both sides of the hallway. It reminded him of the apartment building he used to live in. He located the bathroom to his left and entered. He softly closed the door, and sighed.

He stripped himself of his clothes, placing the clean clothes and towel on the toilet and leaving his old shirt on the floor. He turned on the shower, placing it to what he thought was a reasonable level. He slowly put his hand into the running water, and was relieved to find it wasn't warm enough to melt his skin.

He climbed into the tub, soaking the heat of the water in. He decided it wasn't hot enough, so he tediously adjusts the water until it's just below skin-melting level. He stood there, letting the hot water wash away the negativity that had been building up.

He couldn't believe he had broken down like that. That was no way to conduct himself, he thought. He just started crying like a child in front of stranger, what the hell was wrong with him? He naturally thought of the counter-argument: you're in an entirely different state with no idea how you got there, being emotional is to be expected.

But crying like that? He was just lucky Rita had comforted him. He probably could've held it in, but the way she made him feel comforted, he just couldn't help himself.

It wasn't your fault, he told himself. He'd give himself crap for a lot of things, but this wasn't one of them, and he knew it. It didn't make him feel better about himself, but at least he didn't feel guilty.

He sighed, thinking now about his parents. He wasn't sure if his parents at this point would be more pissed or relieved that he wasn't dead. The logical part of him told him that at this point, they'd have to be more relieved than anything else. The ever-negative part of him was sure there'd be hell to pay at home. Being a state away wasn't easily forgivable. Being a state away was also terrifying for both parties.

The two sides compromised: they'd be relieved that he was indeed alive, although a little pissed that he'd never be able to explain how he ended up in Michigan. He thought of the possibility of punishment, but he couldn't decide if that was probable or not. He could only wait and see.

He realized he had just been standing there, just thinking and not cleaning as he should. He spotted a bar of soap, picked it up and began to rub it between his hands. After they were sufficiently sudsy, he put the bar down and began to scrub with body with his hand. A sense of clean had taken hold in his body, and combined with the steaming water, he felt like he was being cleansed of his mis grievances. He felt like he was exaggerating, however: it was just a shower. He took one every night before going to bed.

He guessed it was the feeling of a new beginning. The way he ended up so far from home was probably a sign. Not a divine sign, or a deliberately placed one, but a general sign of...something. He couldn't put a word on it, but he knew when life was telling him something.

After this shower, he reasoned with himself, he was going to try and do something different. He'd probably try to focus on family life. He didn't like the fact he had to dread a call to his own mother. He didn't like fearing the punishment for something out of his hands. That just wasn't right, he knew that. He knew it was silly.

A part of him was still reluctant to doing anything, mainly because he didn't know exactly _what_ to do. Regardless of this, he knew something was going to be done. And he was ready, for the most part, to do it.

He realized for the second time he was just standing there, lost in self-reflection, but he was fine with that. He let it go on for a couple minutes, before deciding he had used up enough hot water.

He pulled back the shower curtain and stepped out. He dried himself with the towel, particularly drying the long hair he knew he had let happen. He put on the clothes for his lower half, and gazed at his reflection in the slightly fogged mirror.

His hair was getting to his shoulders, something that deeply concerned him. He noticed that he was still as skinny as remembered. He could slightly see his ribs, something that he was always embarrassed of. Having his metabolism had it's pros and cons, and looking like a starving African child was definite con for him.

He'd have to get a haircut. And get back to the gym, two things he knew had been neglecting to do. That'd have to be part of that change he wanted. _Maybe that's all life wanted me to change,_ he jested in his mind. He smiled at the reflection, before turning away to put on the shirt.

He breathed in through his nose, inhaling mostly steam, and exhaled slowly. He had cleaned himself thoroughly, and now he felt rejuvenated and sufficiently ready to face the world again. He opened the bathroom door and walked out in the hall.


	4. Ring Ring

As Christian made his way down the stairs, he noticed that there were baby noises coming from the living room. As soon as he was far enough down the stairs, he saw Lynn and Rita on the couch, with Rita holding a baby with a cute tuft of blonde hair on its head. It was smiling ear to ear, laughing about something, and Christian suddenly felt warm and fuzzy in his chest. Even more than when he drank the hot chocolate.

The small child noticed the teen, and the two locked eyes. The small child had a curious look in her eyes, not knowing who this person was who was climbing down the stairs. Christian looked a little nervous, wanting to start off well with the child.

Christian smiled and waved. "Hey little dude." Sounding as casual as he could muster. Much to his relief, the baby smiled at this and babbled at him. He felt a weight of his chest at the sign that the baby liked him.

He walked over behind the couch and the child reached out to him. Rita saw this, and lifted her towards Christian, and he accepted the child.

"Well aren't you just a cutie patootie?" He baby talked to the child. Both the parents smiled at the compliment.

"That's Lily for ya, kinda her job being our youngest!" Lynn Sr. said with a prideful smile.

"Poo poo!" Christian smelt it, and his eyes widened. She just had an accident _in his arms_.

"...And that. That's also one of her jobs." Lynn Sr. said with a less-than-prideful skulk. He took the child and brought her upstairs to be changed.

Rita laughed at the still shocked expression on Christian's face, and Christian sheepishly laughs with her. He moves around the couch and sits down.

"He said she was your youngest? How many kids do you have?" Christian asked.

Rita shrugged "She's our eleventh."

Christian's eyes widened in surprise and partial horror. Eleven children?! How does that even work?

"What are you, Puritans!?" He thought that those were the Christians with a lot of kids, but he was too in shock to think it over.

Rita laughed hard at the teen's response. She thought she'd be used to the reactions by now, but it honestly never got old. She wasn't sure if the comparison made sense, though. But that kind of made it more funny.

"We're not religious actually, but we are a family of 13! Didn't you notice the pictures on the walls?" Christian looked around, and suddenly noticed the large amount of people in the photos. "Yep. Ten girls and one boy!"

Christian turned back to Rita, the same horrified expression on his face. "How?!" Rita laughed even harder again at his question.

"Oh you know, it takes time and practice. You get used to it!" Christian just started to shake his head.

"Nonsense. Just nonsense." He couldn't keep up the act and started to crack up. "And I thought my two sister were bad: ten to one?"

"Yes, and before you ask: no, we don't know how it happened."

"I believe you. That's...that's just insane." Christian lightly laughed before silence fell between the two. His expression looked a little pained, and then he spoke up.

"Uh, Rita? About what happened back there…" Christian weakly shook his head and bit his lip.

"Don't worry about it dear, you're fine. You didn't do anything wrong." Christian felt relieved from her words, but still felt the need to explain himself.

"I was just...I was already kinda feeling...distressed and hearing that I wasn't where I should be...it freaked me out. Bad."

Rita placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry to hear that, Christian."

"It's fine, I'm fine now." Christian smiled "I know I've already said this already, but thank you for everything."

Rita smiled back. "Don't mention it." She felt relieved that she was able to help him. She wasn't sure what had him so spooked, but she would be willing to help him any way she could. Like he were her own blood.

Christian noticed that his phone and wallet were now on the table in front of them. He figured Rita had brought them out when she was done doing whatever in the room. He stared at the device, remembering that he had to call his parents eventually. He leaned over and picked it up, pressing the power button and finding that it miraculously had fifty percent battery left.

"Are you going to call your parents now?" Rita asked.

"Have to eventually. Might as well now." He responded, eyes not taken off the phone. He swiped in the pattern to unlock it, and looked at the background. Rita couldn't help but peek at the boy, and saw the background too.

"Is that your family?" She asked. Christian smiled at the question, despite the fact he dreaded the call to his mother.

"Yep." Rita could see that there were five individuals in the photograph. A younger woman with brown hair like his, although less dark. She saw that she and Christian mostly shared each others chocolate colored eyes. There was a younger man who didn't look like Christian. but the clear father in the situation. He was wearing a basketball jersey, and the large amount of tattoos on his upper body were very visible. There was Christian himself, although in the picture he had shorter hair, his bangs swept to the right above the eyebrows, with no shag at the back. There was a girl who looked only a little younger than him, who greatly resembled the woman. Then there was the baby, who looked around a year or two older than her own Lily. She resembled the man in the picture much more than the other two children.

The family were situated at a table outside of a restaurant, which judging from the lobster on the table she assumed to be a seafood place. The family were wearing t-shirts and shorts, with Christian specifically wearing a pair of orange-tinted aviators. Everyone in the picture was smiling and possibly laughing from what she could tell.

"Mom, step-dad, two sisters." Christian pointed out to Rita, and then faintly smiled. "Happier times."

His smile was short-lived, and before long he tapped the screen and his contacts showed up. All of them had very unflattering pictures of faces caught between expressions and such. His thumb hovered above the top contact, "Mom", and stayed there.

He was hesitating, the paranoia of what the conversation would entail filled his mind. Before he could think to much, he forced himself to press the button and held it to his ear. The phone dialed, and th-

A loud three beeps was heard "We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

What.

Christian removed the phone and looked at it, absolutely dumbfounded. What had happened to his mother's phone?

"Is everything alright, dear?" Rita asked.

"It just said my mom's number doesn't number doesn't work anymore." Rita gained his look of confusion.

"Maybe it was a mistake? Try calling again."

Christian re-dialed the number again and held it to his ear. It dialed, then the same three beeps were heard "We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

"What the hell?" He asked aloud, then looked embarrassed after cursing in front of the woman. "Oh, uh, my bad."

Rita laughed at his consideration for her, but then it faded quickly. "So it doesn't work, huh?"

Christian shook his head. A sudden look of hope came onto his face. "Maybe the other numbers still work?" He selected his step-dad's phone number.

"We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

His face started to look more concerned than confused. Maybe his sister Chloe?

"We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

Okay, maybe his Grandma?

"We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

Grandpa?

"We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

He went through every other contact he had, friends, family, family friends.

"We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

He looked and felt defeated, sighing and placing the phone on the table and his head into his hands. Not a single one of the people he knew had working phone number. Or maybe his phone was broke, he didn't even know anymore.

The weirdness of his predicament became more confusing. Waking up in Michigan with no idea how he got there was weird, but could be explained in some manner. But everyone he knew not being able to be contacted? What the hell does that mean? He was worried that he may break down again, but he strangely didn't feel scared, just horribly confused.

He felt Rita shaking his shoulder, and then call his name, and then the two registered and he turned to face her. She looked concerned for him, which given his break down earlier wasn't uncalled for.

"Christian? Did any phone number work?" She already knew the answer, but felt it was better to get him to talk.

"No, no one. Oh my god, what is happening to meeee." He loudly groaned out. He felt her hand on his shoulder and some of the nerves died down, but not to much.

Rita was just as confused as he was. On top of him appearing in her backyard, in an entirely different state then he was supposed to be, now every one he could call no longer had a working phone number? How could she help him now?

"I don't know what to say. I'm trying to think of who might be able to help you with this-" She was interrupted by the door opening, and the answer to her problem walked through the door: four year old child prodigy Lisa Loud.

"Greeting, Mother."


	5. Just A Dude

"Hmm, this is all very fascinating." Lisa said to herself as she looked at the data she had compiled from the subject who referred to himself as "Christian". Upon inquiring as to who he was and why he was there, she knew the circumstances surrounding his sudden appearance weren't normal, obviously. With no explanation available, mostly out of scientific curiosity, took it upon herself to find one.

She had made him come to her room for a series of tests and a more proper interview. From all testing of him genetically, he was indeed a normal sixteen year old male as he claimed. When she inquired as to what he was doing before waking up in her parent's bedroom, he couldn't properly say, just that he wasn't home at the time. This, combined with the sudden appearance on the property and no means to communicate with his family unit, had lead to her think of a few possible explanations.

Her main hypothesis, if correct, could mean many implications for the scientific community. But she would have to further mull over the data, draw up calculations, figure out probabilities and contact fellow scientific colleagues to help her be sure.

"Were all those tests necessary? I mean, you aren't my doctor or someone like that." She heard the subject ask. She looked up from the clipboard and met his eyes. He looked uncomfortable, presumably from the data-collecting

"If I am to deduce any conclusions given your current predicament, yes." She factually stated. But that was only partially true: she had taken advantage of the moment to gain as much data as possible from the male as possible. Mostly it was for the need for knowledge that drove her, but partially the satisfaction of knowing things others didn't that gave her a sense of pride.

Christian looked unconvinced. "If you say so." He then felt a small hand on his knee, and saw Lily holding a small blankie. "Oh, hey little dude."

He leaned over and picked up the baby, carrying her. She laughed at this, excited to keep interacting with the friendly stranger. Lisa took the opportunity to remove the both of them from the room, and walked over to and widened the already open door.

"If you would please remove yourself and the toddler so I may work in peace, that would be optimal." Christian quietly obliged, taking himself and Lily out of the room and heard door quickly close behind him. Lisa gave him bad vibes, frankly, which he felt bad for having. She was just four, but she just felt...cold. Cold and scientific were never good when mixed in his eyes. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts as he made his way downstairs with Lily in his arms.

He rejoined Rita on the couch, who hadn't moved since he was whisked away upstairs.

"So, how did it go? Was she able to figure something out?" She asked calmly, although inwardly fearful of what her genius child might've done. She knew that her experiments on her other children could go overboard. She didn't know what she'd do to a stranger.

Christian shrugged. "She sampled some "basic genetic information" and gave me an interview. She kicked us out to figure it all out."

Rita eased a little with his answer. Lisa wasn't _too_ invasive, thankfully. And hopefully she'd be able to figure out what was happening. Until then, she wasn't sure what to do.

Christian reclined into the sofa, Lily happily sitting in his lap. Rita smiled at the sight. The two of them had quickly become friends.

"You two make a cute team." Christian chuckled.

"I don't know why she likes me so much. Why do you like me so much?" He asked as he leaned closer to the infant. She responded by grabbing his nose.

" _Wow, you're rude!"_ He exclaimed with a pinch-nosed voice. He and Lily began to laugh loudly at the silly voice the teen had made.

Christian gently lifted her and lightly carried out away from him, but her hand was firmly gripping his nose. " _Let go of my nose, you goob!_ "

This caused the two to laugh even harder, and even Rita couldn't help but laugh heartily with them. Rita barely noticed the door open, and saw her third oldest daughter Luna walk in.

Luna had just gotten back from the concert, which had ended early due to technical problems with the weather. Of course, she was bummed, believing there was never really an excuse _not_ to rock out, weather be damned.

She had expected to return home and just jam out to make up for it, but instead came home and saw her favorite sister Lily pinching the nose of some guy she hadn't ever seen before.

He looked to be around her age, and was noticeably pale with dark brown hair. The two of them were laughing loudly, which she couldn't help but find adorable. But who was this dude?

Her mother noticed her and waved. "Hey honey! How was the concert?"

The boy on the couch and her sister noticed her and looked. The boy was still smiling, and Lily still had his nose in her hand.

" _Oh hey, what's up?"_ He spoke casually with the same silly pinch-nosed voice. He and Lily began to roar with laughter again, and Luna couldn't help but join in.

The laughter stopped and Luna sat herself on the couch in-between him and her mother. Lily finally let go of his nose and he could speak properly.

"I'm Christian." He said with friendly smile.

"I'm Luna." She responded with a smile back. Lily crawled from his lap into hers. Luna picked her up, and Lily laughed a little and clapped. "Lily seems to like you a lot."

Christian shrugged. "I don't know man, she was trying to steal my nose. Weren't you?" He leaned in as he asked. Lily made grab for his nose again, and he barely moved back his head in time.

"See!? She's trying the jack my nose!" He exclaimed, causing Lily to laugh and babble. Luna giggled at the two's silliness. She was impressed that he was so good with making her laugh.

"So, what are you doing here?" Luna asked.

Christian began to rub the back of his neck. "It's uh, complicated. Your parents found me in the backyard, and they brought me in. None of my family's phone numbers work, so Lisa ran some tests and asked questions and kicked me out to figure it out."

"Wow." Was all Luna could muster. Weird stuff happened all the time around her family and house. But that was just... weird. She hadn't heard anything like it ever happening before.

Christian just shrugged at the response. He had no idea what to think anymore, and was trying to not overthink anything and get scared again. God knows he didn't need _another_ break down.

Silence fell upon the room for a moment before being broken. "So, that's three sibling I've met so far: mind telling me about the others?"

"Oh, sure dude." Luna said as she got up, picked a picture from the wall, and sat down again. Christian leaned in, amazed at the diverse cast of siblings. He hadn't expected so many distinct characters, but after Lisa he figured that all the Loud siblings had some gimmick.

Luna pointed first to the only boy the picture. "That's Lincoln, my lil' bro. He's kinda the ace of all trades around here."

Christian chuckled. "With ten sisters that's probably a necessity."

Luna chuckled back. "You have _no_ idea, dude."

Luna pointed next to tallest sister, blonde and wearing a blue tank top. "That's the oldest, Lori. She's in charge when our parents aren't around. She's always on her phone, and kinda mean sometimes. But she means well."

Luna then pointed to another blonde with glasses on her head. "That's Leni. She ain't the sharpest guitar pick, but she's the sweetest person you'll ever meet."

She pointed to a brown haired girl with a widow's peak and a pony tail. She had a pink flower on her white shirt."That's my sis Luan. She's the in-house comedian, although most of her puns are just...really lame." She groaned at the thought of the puns. "But she's still a really cool dude."

She then pointed to another brown haired girl with a pony tail, although she was wearing a red and white sports shirt. "That's Lynn, she's super into sports. She'll make a competition out of anything, but she's super fun to be around." The memory of the two of them chicken fighting at the pool came to mind.

She then pointed to a girl whose eyes were veiled behind her black hair. "That's Lucy, she's kinda ...spooky. She tends to pop out of nowhere, make poems about dark stuff. But she's still nice, just a little weird."

Then she pointed to two blonde twins, one wearing a red cap and overalls, the other a tiara and pink dress. "That's Lola and Lana. Lana loves mud, fixing things, and animals. Lola loves princesses, beauty pageants, and looking at herself in the mirror. They're pretty cute."

Luna put down the picture. "And that's everyone, you already met Lily, Lisa, and I."

Christian was amazed there were so many unique people in one family. He had half expected some of them to at least be average Joe's, but after his encounter with Lisa the thought was dismissed. But there was still one sibling he didn't know too well.

Christian shook his head. "I didn't get a character description of you."

Luna grinned. "Well, I'm the cool older sister who's gonna become a rock legend." She said confidently as she put both hands behind her head.

Christian grinned back. "At least you got life all figured out."

Luna laughed. "Not really. Rock stardom is my dream, but I haven't got a set path yet. If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

Christian nodded. "That's a good way to look at it." Christian found her relaxed look at life admirable.

"What about you?" She asked. "Who are you?" The sudden turn of questioning caught him off guard. He wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"I'm just a dude, dude. I try to go with the flow, try not to stress out too much. Try to be decent to people." He shrugged. "There isn't much to say,"

Luna smiled at his response. This guy was already cool with her since he was cool with Lily. He seemed pretty chill, too. She felt bad this weird situation happened to such a cool dude.

"How long you sticking around for?" She asked.

Christian sighed. "That depends on when I can contact my folks. I guess I'll have to wait until Lisa comes up with something." He looked dejected at the thought of not being able to talk with his family. He may have dreaded the conversation with his mother, but at least that would've meant he could at least _talk to her._

Luna recognized his sad look and intervened. "Hey, if you ever wanna chat or jam out, Luan and I's door is always open."

Christian chuckled at the mention of door. "Which door? There were, like, seven of the things!"

"It's the door on the left across the hall when you come up the stairs. You can't miss it cause of all the rocking out that goes on in there." She said with pride, being undeniably the loudest of the Louds

"I'll take you up on that offer, Luna."


	6. Family Meeting

The rest of the Loud siblings began to slowly trickle into the house. Lori walked in through the front door, tapping away at her phone without paying mind to her environment, including the teen boy on the couch.

Christian raised his hand awkwardly. "Uh, hi." Lori ignored him as she made her way up the stairs and out of sight. Christian stared off into space, not sure how to feel about what just happened. "Did I…" he started, but stopped when he figured he didn't say anything wrong.

A little later came Leni and Lola with a large amount of bags. Leni was carrying enough bags to be taller than her, while Lola was only carrying a bag and an a large front-toothless smile.. She noticed the teen and looked confused.

"Who are you?" She asked.

Christian felt relieved that at least this sister was talking to her. "I'm Christian."

The tower of bags rotated, revealing Leni with a concerned look on her face. "Sorry, we're not really religious: I hope you don't mind!"

Christian put his hand on his mouth to hide his smile. She knew she wasn't going to be that smart, but she was so considerate. "Don't worry, I'm not actually religious, either."

Leni looked puzzled. "But you said you were Christian?"

Christian laughed a little. "My _name_ is Christian, but I'm an atheist." Leni still looked confused

"Why is your name Christian if you're not Christian?" Christian shrugged.

"My mom named me that." Leni seemed satisfied at the answer.

"My mom named me Leni!" Lola cleared her throat, and both Leni and Christian turned to look down at the little girl.

"I'm Lola, and I don't care what you are, as long as you understand that I'm the princess around here: got it?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet tone, clasping her hands together and producing a cute, almost innocent face.

Christian felt a little unnerved at the facade. "Uh, sure kiddo." He awkwardly reached down and patted her on the head. She giggled, and then the facade faded as she snapped her fingers.

"Let's get a move on, Leni! These bags aren't gonna end up in our rooms on their own!"

Leni hurriedly nodded, and began to move towards the stairs. Before ascending, she looked back at the teen boy. "Hey, your name is kinda weird, but you seem really nice!" Christian felt taken aback at the half-insult of his name, but he knew her heart was in the right place.

"You seem real nice, too!" He replied. She smiled at the compliment, and began to make her way upstairs and out of sight. He kicked himself in his head. Was that really all he could say?

Regardless, Christian liked her: not too heavy in the brain, but heavy in the heart. He respected that. The little princess on the hand? She gave him the impression she thought herself above everyone else, a trait he rather disliked in people. He reasoned with himself that she was just a little girl and wasn't always like that, like he assumed of Lisa, but still.

Time passed, and the next sister suddenly appeared. Christian had just caught it out of the corner of his eye, and saw that the dark sister, Lucy, was watching him. She froze, seemingly shocked despite no change to her facial expression.

"Gasp, you could actually see me?" She asked, completely monotone. Christian had no idea how to react to how she spoke: he knew goths were fascinated by the darker side of life, but speaking out a gasp?

Christian rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, yeah. You're just standing there. How could I not see you?"

"I use the darkness to conceal myself so I may judge before action." Christian cocked an eyebrow.

"It's like, midday. The lighting isn't in your favor." The goth paused.

"...fair point." The two awkwardly stared at each other, or at least Christian thought she was staring at him. Her concealed eyes were making it hard to make eye contact.

Christian looked around the room, not really sure what to say. When his eyes returned to where Lucy had been, she had vanished. His eyes widened at the now open space, not sure how she managed to disappear like that.

"Guess the lighting _was_ in your favor…" He muttered to himself.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Lynn walked in, carrying hockey sticks, ice skates, and a proud smile.

"You guys really need to step it up: it was a two on one match and I still won!" She teased. Lana and Lincoln walked in, both looking exhausted and annoyed at the jock's bragging.

"C'mon Lynn, Lana and I barely even play ice hockey!" Complained Lincoln.

"Yeah! Couldn't you have at least gone a little easy on us?" Lana asked. Lynn shrugged.

"I was going easy on you, I was only at one hundred percent!" She said as she placed her hands proudly on her hips.

Christian awkwardly looked on from the couch, working out how to introduce himself in his head. Lincoln saw him, and both of their eyes widened. His expression changed to a confused look.

"Who are you?" Lincoln asked. The other two turned to see Christian too, and had the same confused look.

Christian felt slightly panicked at and swallowed nervously. "I'm Christian, your parents found me in your backyard."

"In our...backyard?" Lynn asked

"Why were you in our backyard?" Asked Lincoln. Christian shrugged.

"Taking a nap?" Christian said as he raised his shoulders.

"You take naps outside, too?" Asked Lana excitedly. "I don't do it during Winter, but that's pretty cool, too!" Christian chuckled a little at her excitement.

"I don't normally do it during Winter either, kiddo. I don't even normally go outside during Winter to begin with." He looked at Lynn. "You guys playing ice hockey?"

"Well, _I_ was playing hockey," Lynn corrected. "These two were too busy getting their butts handed to them." She pointed to the other two, and they gave her a peeved look.

"That's impressive. I played ice hockey once." Lynn suddenly looked interested.

"Really?" She asked curiously. Christian nodded.

"I busted my butt so bad I couldn't sit down for a week." The three kids burst out at the unflattering detail. Christian smiled at his handiwork.

They stopped laughing and Lincoln extended his hand towards the teen. "I'm Lincoln, I'm the only other guy around here besides my dad." Christian accepted his hand and the two boys firmly shook hands.

"It's a pleasure, Lincoln." Christian said.

"I'm Lynn." Said Lynn as she placed her hand on top of theirs.

"I'm Lana!" Lana said as she added her hand.

The four hands began shaking each others all at once. They all giggled at the 4-way-shake and broke it off.

Suddenly, Lisa descended from the stairs. She had some pieces of paper with multiple complex equations and sentences. She looked at Christian sternly.

"I have conclusively discovered the reasons behind your current set of circumstances." Christian looked at her in amazement. That quickly?

"I'll go over the details once the family unit has assembled." She went past the four and began setting up her projector. The four looked amongst each other in confusion.

Shortly afterwards the family assembled itself in the living room, mostly confused and anxious to figure out what was going on. Lori had her arms crossed and looked crossed.

"Okay, literally why did we need a family meeting?" She demanded. The other sisters simultaneously aired their agreements. Lisa calmly readjusted her glasses and cleared her throat.

"Because, dear sister, the circumstances our guest is in at the moment demands unanimous family action." She seriously answered as she pointed to Christian. He felt his chest tighten at the words.

"Wait Lis, Luan isn't home yet." Luna pointed out. Lisa merely shook her head.

"The comedian can be brought up to speed later, we need to address the situation as-" Suddenly, the front door opened and in came Luan Loud dressed as a snowman.

"Sorry I was late guys. I got attacked by a vampire snowman. I think it gave me frostbite! Haha, get it?" Everyone groaned. "Seriously guys, it's snow joke!" Hahaha, get it!?" Everyone groaned louder. Christian groaned for a few seconds longer than the others, and Luan noticed him.

"Who's the new guy?" Luan asked.

"He's Christian." Luna replied.

"Jewish, actually." Christian retorted to spite her puns.

"I get it!" Luan laughed.

Leni looked confused. "Wait, I thought you were an atheist?" Christian groaned.

"No Leni, it was just a play on words. Anyways, Lisa was about to deliver horrible news, right?" Christina asked.

"Seeing as I doubt any of you have the mental capacity to understand the quantum physics behind the concept I'm about to introduce," The entire family glared at her insult,"I'm going to skip to simple man's terms. Let's go over the facts. Christian manifested in our backyard at seemingly random, and he cannot contact his family unit at all. The description of events before he arrived here he gave me don't logically lead to him being in our backyard." The family and Christian were silent, no one sure where this was going.

"I went over all the possibilities and spoke with colleagues in the same field, and I have concluded with one hundred percent accuracy that Christian is from an entirely different dimension that ours." She declared with a hint of pride at her conclusion.

"What?" Christian uttered. His brain tried to process the news, tried to make sense of it. He woke up in a bed not his own, met a family of 13, one of them being a four year old genius. He couldn't contact his own family or friends, and he had no explanation for anything that had happened. Somehow, him being in alternate dimension made a weird sort of sense, given the circumstances.

"But how?" Lincoln asked.

"I admit, the specifics are a little lost on me. The closest I can come up with is that wherever he had been in his own universe last must've had some sort of inter-dimensional rift, allowing him to come to our dimension. This is a concept up to this point hasn't been able to be directly studied."

Lynn cocked her eyebrow. "I woulda figured you would've have had this figured out." Lisa glared at the jock.

"I may be a genius, but even I have my limits. The kind of technology necessary for further research won't exist for at least five to ten years." Christian felt his heart recoil at that last statement.

He wasn't going home.

Inwardly, Christian wasn't sure how he felt. He was surprised at himself for how well he was taking it all, especially given his break down with Rita earlier. Here he was, an alternate dimension away from home without a way back, and he didn't feel like he was about to lose it. He was still nervous as he could get, but he wasn't gonna completely lose it. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Rita observed Christian, fearful of a repeat of his break down in her bedroom earlier. But he didn't look like he was about to freak out. He looked stressed and mildly freaked out, but he didn't look like he was about to cry.

"Oh." Was all he could muster. The family looked at the intradimensional teen, feeling bad for the bombshell that was just dropped on him. He leaned over, elbows on his legs as ran his head through his hair.

There was only one question going through his head. "What am I going to do now?"

Suddenly, he felt multiple hands on his back and shoulders. He looked up, and saw the smiles of most of the sisters.

"You can stay with us, right Mom and Dad?" Lincoln asked. Lynn whipped her head to face her parents and deployed the cutest puppy she could muster.

"Can we keep him? Please?" She pleaded.

"His name is sort of confusing, but I think he's a neat guy!" Leni vouched.

"We gotta help this dude, dudes!" Luna cried out.

Most of the other sisters voiced their agreements, and Christian felt his heart swell. He hadn't expected such an almost unanimous agreement to help him. But he saw the indifferent look on Lori's and Lisa's face, and felt unnerved. Lori and Christian made eye contact for the first time. She rolled her eyes and voiced her agreement. Christian smiled, and looked at the parent for confirmation.

He looked to the two parents who were looking at each other. They had both come to the same conclusion when "another dimension" was first uttered, but the two smiled and nodded in confirmation.

"Christian, we would be happy to let you stay with us for however long you need." She smiled assuredly at the teen. Christian was shocked at the further generosity the parents had exhibited. He warmly smiled at the two

"That sounds nice. Thank you." A sense of relief washed over him as the siblings cheered. His entire reality had basically shattered, and yet he fine now, maybe even a little excited. He may be far from home, he thought, but at least he wasn't alone.

(Author's note: Sorry for not being more communicative during all of this, I'm kind of awkward like that, lol. I'd like to thank everyone who's following and favoriting and reviewing, you guys are amazing. Thank you. Also, anyone see that twist coming? Hope everyone's still loving this, because I gots all sorts of ideas for the shenanigans that will ensue :U. Hope you enjoyed!)


	7. Snow Joke

When the cheers died down, the immediate question came out into the open: in an already crowded house like the Loud house, where would a male teen fit in? Christian moving in with any of the sisters was obviously out of the question, and there was no room in Lincoln's already cramped room. Then it hit them: the basement.

When he was brought down there, Christian was instantly sold on the idea. It was spacious, which meant plenty of room for him, and he could easily put up with the washer and dryer. He was getting a little excited of the thought creating a place of his own.

He put his hands together and made a frame. He closed an eye and began planning out the layout in his head. "I'm thinking a bed over on the right...mmm, then a dresser over there at the wall...a desk for work over on the left...maybe some other stuff can come into play later…." He thought aloud.

Lynn Sr. crossed his arms and nodded. "Hmm, I think if you moved the desk to the corner over there next to the dresser," He pulled Christian's arms to the corner to the left. "It would pull the room together better."

Christian's eyes widened at the revelation. "You're right! Then what would go over to the left?" He shifted his arms back to the left of the basement. Lynn Sr. put his hand on his chin and pondered for a moment.

"Hmm, can't say for certain. We could always fill in later."

Christian nodded and put his arms down. "So, when do we start filling?" He asked.

"We have almost everything already!" Sr. slapped Christian on the back. Christian looked shocked.

"But where?" Christian couldn't believe the sheer amount of surprises this family had up it's sleeves.

"We have all sorts of junk in either the garage or the attic. Although I think everything we need is in the garage." Christian narrowed his eyes Sr.

"You are aware the outdoors nearly killed me, correct?"

"I know, it was snow joke!" Sr. laughed and Christian felt something die inside.

After recovering mentally from the father's joke, Christian grabbed of one Sr.'s old jackets and the two walked to the garage. The door was lifted and the large amount of clutter became visible.

"Oh my god, it's like my family's garage!" Christian remorsed. Lynn Sr. laughed at his reaction and began to wade through the junk. "Given how many people live here, I'm shocked it's not worse!"

"Oh it can get worse than this, trust me!" Lynn Sr. shouted from inside the garage. Christian hesitated, then braced himself and began to wade through the clutter to get to the father. Sr. was waiting next a black dresser. "Alrighty, you get on the other end and we'll carry this thing inside the house."

The two of them leaned down and grab the bottom of the dresser. "Okay, lift with your legs on the count of three: one, two, three!" The two quickly lifted up the dresser fairly easily. Christian didn't feel too strained. Lynn Sr. was feeling good about the fact his back hadn't been thrown off.

"I thought this would be more difficult." He said as the two exited the garage. "This might not be too BA-" His foot suddenly gave out as he slipped on an ice patch, and the dresser pinned him from his abdomen to the ground. "Oh god, why!?" He squeaked out. Christian struggled to push the dresser off of him, as Lynn Sr. tried to get it off of the teen. He struggled against the weight, but it wasn't budging.

Just as he had begun to panic, Christian heard footsteps run up to them, then he felt the dresser's weight ease off his gut.

He looked up, and Lynn Jr. was standing over him, holding up the dresser with ease. She looked down at the teen with a grin.

"You okay, Christian?" Lynn said. Christian sat up, clutching his gut.

"I hate winter…" He groaned. He shakily rose to his feet. "You guys should salt the driveway…"

He looked down at Lynn with a genuine smile. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, I'm the strongest around here, gotta protect the little guy." Christian cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you implying I'm weaker than you?" He asked skeptically..

Lynn shrugged."I don't know, are you?" Christian crossed his arms and puffed his cheeks.

"I haven't worked out in a while, that's all!" She laughed loudly at his reaction. He was getting upset at a thirteen year old girl potentially being stronger than that, how could she not laugh?

"We're gonna have to work on that if you're that mad about it!" She teased. Christian just rolled his eyes. He was gonna do that anyways, didn't need a little girl telling him what to do.

"Uh, sweetie? Can we move the dresser inside now?" They turned to the father and saw his arms shaking. The two Lynn began to carry the dresser back inside as the teen boy hobbled behind them, clutching his sore gut.

When Christian's gut had recovered enough, the three of them made their way back to the garage. They emerged, the Lynn carrying a wooden bed frame with Christian making sure nothing happened.

"Why did you have all of this stuff in the first place?" Christian asked. Sr. opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. "I...don't know." They silently brought the two pieces of furniture down to the basement. The bed frame was placed to the right of the stairs, the nightstand next to it with the dresser next to the nightstand. But the most important piece of the puzzle was missing.

"We don't have a mattress" Lynn keenly observed.

Christian nodded. "Yeah, that's kinda important for the whole sleeping process." Suddenly the whole moving into the basement thing got a lot more complicated.

"Hmm...guess you'll have to sleep on the couch until tomorrow." Sr. decided.

Christian sighed. "Well, guess it could be worse."

Lynn cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

Christian shrugged. "I could've froze to death."

With his room as complete as it's going to get for now, Christian suddenly found himself with all the time in the world. He pondered for a moment, then Luna's offer came to mind. She seemed pretty chill, and seemed like she was probably the one person he'd be able to hold an actual conversation with the easiest.

Christian made his way upstairs, recalling that Luna said that it was the first door on the left. The door was cracked open, and Christian slowly opened it to make sure he was correct. He could see the purple rocker messing around with a speaker. He rapped on the door to get her attention. She froze, turned around and smiled at the boy.

"Hey dude! Glad you could drop by!" Christian fully enter the room and looked around. He noted a drum set, a record player, and the speakers. Very musical, he thought to himself.

"This is a sweet set-up." He commented. The amount of music related stuff was really impressive to him. "Wish I could be this committed to something."

"Eh, don't sweat it. I didn't know rock was my life until a couple years ago, you'll find your jam." She said with a reassuring smile.

"Ah gee, I didn't mean it like that, but thank you." Christian rubbed his neck awkwardly. She gave him a thumbs up and plugged in a purple guitar.

"Hatchway doing?" He asked curiously. Luna shot him a grin.

"Cranking it up eleven with this new speaker I got. You can be my personal audience!" She raised an arm and strummed down. The push of the speaker blasted Christian off of his feet across the room. He was stopped by the bean bag chair in the room, coming to rest with his legs sticking out from behind the bag.

Luna's eyes widened, not realizing that the music would literally sweep him off of his feet. She rushed over to the boy.

"You okay, bro?" She asked with concern in her voice. Much to her surprise, he was laughing like mad.

"That was totally wicked!" He exclaimed as he raised his arms into the air. "I can't hear anything right now, but that was amazing!" His whole body felt like it was vibrating, like the speaker had set his whole body into motion down to the cells in his body.

Luna hunched over and laughed, half out of relief for not hurting the new kid. She extended her hand towards him and he accepted. She pulled him up so he was sitting in the bean bag chair.

"You had me sweating there for a 'sec, didn't realize it was that powerful!" She walked over and cranked down the dial on the speaker. She strummed down again, this time the speaker wasn't as powerful.

"You down to listen to me jam for a bit?"

Christian nodded. "You offered, that's why I'm up here. That and you're a pretty cool dude."

Luna pointed a finger gun at Christian. " _Right back at ya, love_." She said with her British accent and a wink. Christian leaned back and relaxed as she started to perform for him, he thought it might've been Metallica if he was remembering correctly.

 _Harvester Of Sorrow..._

He closed his eyes and let the music overwhelm his senses. Wave after wave of the music pierced his soul. He wasn't used to this kind of music at this level, but he had to admit, Luna was one hell of a guitar player. He could feel it on some level inside, some connection was formed with the music, and subsequently Luna. It's like he could understand her on some unspeakable level. Like she was speaking to him. He couldn't describe it at all, only feel it.

Luna stopped at what Christian assumed was the end of the song. He looked at him excitedly. "Pretty epic, aright?" Christian opened his eyes and his eyes were practically twinkling like stars.

"That was...epic." He responded in pure awe. Luna beamed at his response.

"Rock on!" She shot up the devil's horns. "You normally don't listen to rock like that, do ya?"

Christian quickly shook his head. "Nah man, I don't normally listen to rock at all!" Luna sharply gasped. How could a cool dude like him not listen to rock normally?

"I normally listen to more quiet stuff, electronic, psychedelic, hip hop. Basically everything Flying Lotus has ever made." He explained.

Luna nodded her head. Everyone had their own tastes in music, and she'd never consider in a million years telling someone their taste in music was bad.

"I get it, but we're gonna have to fix that clinical lack of rock, dude." She said seriously to Christian.

Christian nodded. "After that performance? Uh, yeah!" Christian eagerly responded. Luna shot him a grin.

"Let's get to work then. One two three four!" She suddenly began to play the next song that came to mind, and Christian sat back and built up the connection again.


	8. Long Night

(Authors Note: Ayy! Been getting some more feedback recently, I really appreciate it! Special thanks to lttlgreg on this site, love seeing you're actively reading this, means the world to me! Also thanks to the dudes on Tumblr, you know who you are! Anyways, this chapter's a shorty, so I'll probably upload the next chapter sooner than normal. Hope you guys enjoy!)

Christian had stayed with Luna for the rest of the day, but eventually night came. Since there was no mattress for his bed, he had to sleep on the couch. Christian didn't mind, he just joked that he had slept on worse and got settled for the night.

He comfortably laid down on the couch, his head on a pillow, and he closely gripped the blanket he had been given. Rita had asked if he needed anything else, but he politely declined. He had already been given so much in the span of a day, it didn't feel right to ask for even more.

The living room was pitch dark, but his eyes had adjusted at that point. The house was eerily quiet that when he had experienced earlier, but inside his head was loud as the family who was housing him.

The thought kept passing through, but it didn't seem to click in a way. He was in another dimension. He felt he should be feeling some sort of fear or panic at the thought, but he guessed he had accepted that already. It wasn't even just that he felt he should be fearing, it was the thought of not being able to return home any time soon.

What had Lisa said? Five years? Five years until he could see his family? His own flesh and blood? Why wasn't he more freaked out about that?

He blinked, and realized that he had been staring at the ceiling and not had his eyes shut.

"Oh god…" He muttered to himself. "This is gonna be a long night." He sighed and rolled onto his side.

What was his family doing right now? Probably losing their minds. His mom probably bawling her eyes out, his step-dad was probably super pissed. His younger sister was probably also losing, and his baby sister probably had no idea what was going on.

There'd be a long, arduous search where nothing would turn up. Maybe they'd figure out where he had passed out, he was pretty sure he had sit down at a park bench close to his school. Then there'd be nothing, because he literally vanished into thin air. How long would they continue beyond that? Would they be able to move on?

The questions kept piling up in his head, and he felt more awake than ever. He sat up and put his head into his hands. He kept rubbing his face, not sure what to do.

He knew that things had been tense before he left, he knew that had to be why he walked out. But…

Did he abandon them?

Christian felt tears coming along, but he managed to hold them off. He lied back down and stared back at the ceiling. He tried to think less about his family and more about the situation he had ended up in.

Thirteen family members in one house. And he had thought that their home was a tight squeeze. And he was gonna live with all of them, in their basement. Had it been earlier in his life or any other family however, he knew he would've been an emotional mess. At least, beyond his first minor breakdown.

Rita had helped him through that regrettable moment, and the rest of the family seemed to support his presence in the household. For that, he couldn't be more grateful.

He had spent most of his time with the parents, Lily, and Luna, although he knew he'd be spending a lot of time with the others. That was something that both made him excited and anxious. Then came the other stuff beyond the house. He'd probably be going to school again shortly, and the last time he had switched to a new school was in third grade. He shuddered at the memory of those times.

Then came a whole new cast of friends he'd have to make. It wasn't like third grade where he could barely speak without crying, so he'd probably do fine. He'd be the most popular kid in town in no time!

He yawned for a couple seconds and started to sink further into the couch. There was a lot of potential with all of this, practically limitless possibilities. He had no strings attached to him, he could be whoever he wanted to be! He felt the large grin form on his face at the thought.

Suddenly, everything seemed a lot better. All the possibilities laid out before him, and he was loving all of them so far. Christian felt so good that he didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep.


	9. Clothes

(Author's note: Said I was gonna upload a little earlier, wasn't I? :p This is the largest chapter I've written so far, and I figured uploading it now would give me some time to edit a chapter I've already written but want to update. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!)

Christian wasn't exactly sure _when_ he woke up, but he knew exactly _why_ he woke up.

He had been having a dream about a dystopian world where the government controlled everything through freeze tag when he stirred from his rest. He rose slowly from the couch slowly, his barely awake mind realizing that yesterday wasn't a dream, but he was actually living with these people now.

Speaking of these people, he could hear them, a lot. He could hear Luna's music, the twins screaming about something, an immense amount of chatter and some crashing.

"That's why they're called the Louds, I guess." He began to giggle like crazy to himself. He wasn't sure if it was him waking up or the thought never clicked yet, but the way it just fit together was too funny to him.

He yawned silently and began to stretch his back muscles. Now that he had awaken, he was gonna have to actually start doing things other than wake up in other dimensions and listen to music. He quietly groaned to himself.

"I don't want to get up." He paused. "I gotta get up." He said as he forced himself off the couch. He should be using as much time as possible figuring out what to do with himself. That, and the family was probably going to need to use the couch eventually.

He looked over to the end-table and saw that his own clothes were placed there. At least that was sorted, but he'd need somewhere a bit more...private to change. He immediately thought of the bathroom, but the cacophony upstairs told him that probably wasn't the best choice. His future room immediately came to mind, which was supposed to be his room after all.

He picked up the clothes and made his way to the basement. As he walked through the kitchen, he noticed the white-haired boy, Lincoln. He was in the fridge, muttering something about an empty jar.

"Mornin', Lincoln." Christian greeted. Lincoln froze, then turned around at the teen and smiled.

"Morning! You sleep well last night?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm not dead tired right now, so I guess." Christian shrugged with a small smile. Lincoln seemed relieved by his answer.

"Good, the walls are pretty thin, so I was worried that you might've been restless." Christian yawned loudly, but shook his head.

"Nah, walls are pretty thin back home. I'm used to it." Who could've known life back home was actually just preparation for this? They both heard footsteps from the dining room and turned to see Leni walk in.

"Morning guys!" She said with a warm smile. The smile turned to a confused look as she looked at the clothes in Christian's arms.

"What's that?" She asked. Christian unfurled the white t-shirt and dark pants in each hand.

"These are the clothes I came here in. All I have at the moment." Christian explained. Leni sharply gasped, which made him and Lincoln jump a little.

"We _need_ to fix that, like, now!" She exclaimed. "We're going to the shopping mall and we're gonna make you _beautiful_!"

"Uh, Leni? I'm not sure he'd want to be beautiful." Lincoln unsurely pointed out. Christian didn't hear this as fireworks went off in his eyes.

"Dude! I haven't been to a mall in, gosh I can't even remember!" The food courts, the rows of stores and stands and the occasional claw game, the amount of things to see and do! It was always euphoric to spend some time at a mall for Christian.

Leni sharply gasped again. "Don't worry, I'll help you get over your ammonia!" She gleefully exchanged. Christian's wonder turned to confusion as he looked at her funny. She shot him an equally funny look.

"What? You said you couldn't remember!" Leni said. Christian and Lincoln looked at eachother before it clicked for both of them.

"Ohhh." They both said. "You mean amnesia!"

Leni giggled. "I mean, I guess!"

Royal Woods Mall was one of the grandest places Christian had ever bared witness to. From the description alone it sounded super impressive: large food court, endless stores, and auditorium. Then he _looked_ at the place. Michigan was starting to become more and more like a fantasy land and not just the state up north.

He and Leni walked in through the front entrance, and Christian felt a little overwhelmed at the scale of the place. But at the same time, it was all so exciting to him, the thought of exploring every inch of the place.

"So, where do you want to start?" Leni suddenly asked Christian. He snapped out of his stupor, shaking his head. He ran his hand through his hair and it instantly came to mind.

"The hair, it's at my neck and needs to go." Christian explained. "I just feel gross when it's like this."

"I completely understand. Hair is the most important part of the body!"

"Fashion wise?" Christian asked, slightly confused.

"I guess you could say I'm wise when it comes to fashion." Christian opened his mouth to say something, but decided to just drop it.

"Anyways, I know this salon that's perfect for you! This way!" Leni grabbed Christian by the wrist and began escorting him through the mall.

Christian smelled the hairspray before he saw the storefront. Christian could smell the hairspray before he saw the storefront. The inside had the familiar line up of chairs and mirrors, all of which were empty. Leni talked with the lady at the register, and Christian was seated at one of the cold leather chairs. The lady draped the cape around him and began to spray water on his hair.

"What would ya like, hun?" The lady asked while getting everything else ready.

Christian looked at himself in the mirror, his shaggy brown hair to be a bad memory. But how was going to get his hair cut? He couldn't think of any new styles he wanted to or felt comfortable doing. He always just kept it not too long in the back, and just swept his bangs across his forehead. No need to change now, he figured to himself.

"Give it all a trim to remove the shag, if that makes sense." He finally decided.

The lady nodded. "You got it."

Christian closed his eyes and let the hair stylist do her thing. He heard the snipping around his head as well as the switch to a shaver occasionally. It was a refreshing feeling getting his haircut, like a snake shedding it's skin: a brand new Christian almost.

"So, why'd your hair get so long?" He heard Leni ask with curiosity next to him. He opened his eyes and Leni had sat down in the chair next to his, a cape being wrapped around her.

"I had been meaning to, just too busy." Christian explained. Leni frowned at the answer.

"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that! I couldn't imagine not being able get my hair done regularly!" She ran her hand through her hair with a somber look on her face.

"It actually used to be a lot longer."

"Omg, really?"

The memory of 6th grade hit Christian like a bullet train. It was spring, and he hadn't gone to get his haircut in months. It was art class, and they had a substitute teacher. He was sitting at a chair facing away from the teacher. He had been called on, but

"Excuse me, young ma'am?" The elderly teacher asked. Christian whipped his head around, blushing and confused.

"Ex-excuse me?" He stammered out. The entire class began laughing at the misidentification, as the teacher's eyes widened as she realized her error.

"Hahahaha!" Leni laughed as Christian finished his story. He couldn't help but giggle as well, in hindsight that was hilarious.

"Yeah, after that I never let my hair get lower than the base of my neck!" Leni wiped away a tear as the cape was removed from her neck.

"Gosh, I can't believe you were a girl!" Christian wheezed as he entered a laughing fit.

"Leni, I wasn't a girl, I was just mistaken for one!" Leni's eyes widened as she stood up.

"Ohhhh, that makes more sense!" Christian shook his head and chuckled.

"Alright, this good?" The lady stepped back and Christian analyzed his change in the mirror. The hair was no longer hanging off of his head, although it had the length to not be stuck to his head. It was just above his neck, his bangs were just a tad above his eyes. He also had mildly lengthy sideburns, but not beyond the bottom of his ears.

He nodded at the reflection: he liked.

"Yep, that's the look." He confirmed with a wide smile on his face. The lady smiled back and took off the cape.

Christian and Leni walked out of the salon, Christian's smile still going strong. He was moving his upper body back and forth with excitement.

"God, I feel wonderful! Thank you so much for doing this for me!" Christian practically squeed. Leni beamed at his reaction.

"You're totes welcome! Don't think we're done, though! We need to update that wardrobe!" Leni pointed at the admittedly ratty clothes he was wearing. Christian looked down at them and realized how sadly he was dressed: white t-shirt, not even fully black pants, generic white sneakers. He felt gross.

"You're right…" Christian looked up at her. "Where can we go?" He wasn't sure what budget they had.

"Anywhere you'd like! Just find whatever makes you happy!" Christian sharply gasped as his eyes widened and sparkled like the night sky.

"Dude! Thank you so much!"

"Don't even mention it! Even though you just did…"

Christian took the lead and they wandered the halls of the mall. Christian analyzed each store they passed: sports stores, jewelry stores, that one edgy store with all the emos.

They finally came to a stop in front of a shoe store.

"Shoes would be a good first step." Christian explained

"Shoes are the base of every of every outfit!" Leni agreed.

They walked in and the walls were lined with various sneakers and other shoes. Christian slowly walked around, looking at shoe available with care. A shoe was a commitment, and he has made some bad commitments before. He had to be absolutely su-

"Bingo!' Christian suddenly exclaimed. He reached for a display sneaker and pulled it off the stand. It was a basketball sneaker, the top part grey and made of a fabric. The bottom half was a white.

"Ooh! Handsome!" Leni exclaimed. Christian nodded and put the shoe back. He scanned the boxes and found the ones in his size. He opened the box and pulled out a shoe. He kicked off his own and slipped on the sneaker.

He waddled around, each step on the new shoe feeling absolutely perfect. Like walking a new set of skin.

"This is the one." Christian declared.

"But, there's two of them?" Leni said with confusion.

Christian walked out a couple of minutes later with a newfound spring in his step.

"Dude, the haircut already had me excited! But the shoes?" He bent over and stroked the front of his shoes. "This is _magical_!"

Leni sharply gasped. "I didn't know you had magic shoes!"

"N-no, it was an exaggeration or whatever."

"Oh. Well, I'm just glad you feel so spectacular!" Leni cheered. "But there's one thing still missing!"

"Wha?"

"Your outfits, silly! We need to get you out of those rags, like, _now!_ " Christian sharply gasped.

"Cloooothes!" He screamed loudly.

"Cloooothes!" Leni screamed back.

" **Cloooothes!"** They both screamed at the top of their lungs.

A lot of clothes were bought that day. Fancy shirts, smooth pants, and the essentials such as underwear and socks (the bit both were least interested in.. The outfit that Christian walked out with was a black, white and red checkered button up. It was buttoned only at the top, his white t-shirt underneath. He also had on a new pair of khakis. Nothing was baggy and fit perfectly around his body, something that satisfied him to no end.

He felt like a million dollars as he walked out of that mall, and he had all of that to thank to non other than…

"Leni? Thank you so much, for everything."

"Don't mention it, Chris!"


	10. This Is Your School

Christian _had_ to start going back to school eventually. He knew that, and he didn't even dislike the idea; The thought of just mooching off the Louds and not doing anything made him uncomfortable.

He had no idea how he had already been registered for Royal Woods High School, or how that was even possible to be done given his...place of origin. Rita and Lynn Sr. were just that amazing, Christian deduced was the only reasonable answer, and decided to leave it at that.

It was the day after his mattress had finally been placed downstairs. Christian rose up the basement in his new clothes to get breakfast. He opened and entered the kitchen. This was his first school morning with the Loud's (he had arrived in an extended weekend) and had breakfast with them before. Not all the siblings would be eating at once, and that hadn't changed.

All siblings from Luan to Lori were already at the table, eating breakfast. Christian sat down with a bowl of cereal at the end of the table, gaining the attention of Luna.

"Morning, Chris!" Luna greeted with enthusiasm. "You ready for your first day of school?"

"You sound like my mom, Luna." Christian replied as he took in a spoonful of cereal. Leni looked up with a puzzled look on her face.

"Your mom sounds like a fifteen year old? That's weird." Leni said. Christian nearly choked on his cereal, and belt his nose burn as milk came out. He roughly coughed as he brought his paper towel to his face and wiped.

He cleared his throat. "I mean, she does talk like a teen sometimes; She's only in her thirties."

"Literally?" Lori asked. "I think Mom and Dad were in their thirties when they starting having us."

"Gee, Christian's mom must've had a hard time swallowing _that_ pill! Haha, get it?"

A second of everyone staring at Luan passed, then everyone began to groan out loud. Christian held his face in his hands to hide his face to hide his embarrassment.

"If that was what I think that was…" was all Christian could muster. Luan said nothing, and placed a spoonful of cereal in her mouth with a satisfied look on her face.

The bus ride to school was fairly uneventful. Christian and Luna got together and compared classes. All classes except for lunch they'd be separate.

"Bummer, dude." Luna accurately put.

They arrived at school and all hopped off the bus. Christian had no real plans beyond 'Don't make an idiot out of yourself', but if he managed to impress the Louds, this should be a walk in the park.

"It better be," Christian muttered to himself, "I've had enough crap happen to me for one lifetime…"

First period was English. He received the books he was to read, they talked about books all period, then the bell rang.

Economics was next, and Christian was already feeling school begin to chip seat at his soul once again. They talked about tax returns, filled out a tax return, and once the bell rang Christian felt life return to his weakened body as he walked out the room.

He was hunched over a water fountain when he spotted Lori and who he assumed was her boyfriend interlocking hands. They were looking each other with shining, admiring eyes.

Christian overheard them talking while at the house. The way that they obsessed over each other wasn't just a phone thing, Christian realized.

He steeled himself for any wrath he may incur as he approached the lovey-dovey couple.

"Hey Lori? You know where the science rooms are?" Lori broke off eye contact with Bobby and sighed.

"Down the hall and up the staircase." She nodded her head in the direction behind

"You're the guy that Lori was talking about? Christian, right?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, you're Bobby, right?" Bobby nodded and extended his hand. Christian accepted and they firmly shook hands.

"Sorry to hear what happened with the whole 'accidentally went to a new universe' thing." Bobby said as he smiled almost apologetically.

"It's...fine I guess. Got let in by this cool family though, they're pretty nice!" Christian winked Lori, who only rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I gotta get going. See you two around!" He waved as he walked down the hall and up the stairs.

"He seems nice!" Bobby said.

"Hm, I guess." Lori conceded.

Next was the art class he had chosen, photography. He always liked to take pictures on his phone, might as well do it on an actual camera! He sat down at the table he was assigned, next to a latina girl. Time to actually talk to someone other than a Loud.

"Hey, I'm Christian!" Christian introduced himself with a friendly smile and wave.

Stella glanced up at the new kid, a little startled, "O-Oh, uh, hey. I-I'm Stella." She gave a small smile in return, visibly tense and looked unsure of how to talk to new people.

Christian felt a little unsure now. He had expected to be the nervous newbie, not the people at his new school. He chuckled a little.

"I'm not gonna bite, you know." He teased gave a small laugh at that.

"I mean, I would hope not..." She glanced at him again, still tense and unsure of herself. She didn't want to scare this new potential friend off on the first day. "You, uh- you been here long? In, uh, Royal Woods I mean, not school, school just started two hours ago, hahaha..." God, she felt like complete mess.

Christian felt a pang of panic ripple through him; He had forgot to come up with a cover story.

"I, uh, no. I've been here since Saturday." He began to fiddle with his assigned camera to mask any awkwardness from himself. This was going well, he half-sarcastically thought to himself.

"Oh, Saturday! That's such a good day." Stella mentally slapped herself. The two were silent for a moment before she spoke again; this kid was obviously gonna be sitting next to her for the rest of the year, she had to say _something_ to him. "You... like photography?" Another mental slap, of course he did, why would he be in the class otherwise?

"Yeah! I like to take pictures with my phone a bunch, so I figured I might as well do it professionally!" Christian suddenly felt the tension in his chest dissipate. "I mean, as professional as a high school class gets." Stella laughed at that.

"That's true, but hey, it's better than nothing." Stella awarded herself a point for the talking department. "I love taking pictures, just the idea of capturing a moment onto film always fascinated me." _Another quality line,_ she mentally patted herself on her back.

"That's a good way of looking at it. I like to capture..." Christian put his hand on his chin and concentrated on the table. "...feeling. Or maybe the word is atmosphere." He frowned. "That make any sense? Or was that basically what you just said?"

"No, No! I totally get what you mean, I'm picking up what you're putting down, haha!" She looked down and fiddled with her own camera, leg bouncing semi-quietly under the table."Capturing feeling in a photo I think is different than capturing a moment. I always like to try to do both, though."

"That's the dream, man." Christian concluded. He felt a keen sense of satisfaction that he seemed to have finally made a friend other than a Loud. And it wasn't over something boring like Economics or Algebra! He chuckled. "I'm glad I'm sitting next to you and not anyone else!"

Stella smiled at this, this kid wasn't too bad. A hell of a lot better than most of the kids in their grade. "I couldn't agree more."

Photography, much to Christian's remorse, ended eventually. He headed to gym, expecting to get all sweaty alone. Miraculously, Stella appeared in his class! They ran a mile together, both of them nearly dying, and went off to lunch together. They grabbed their food and sat down together. Suddenly, they were joined Luna.

"What's the haps, Chris? Already making bros, I see!" Luna said as she noticed Stella's presence. Stella suddenly looked up, visibly tense like when she met Christian.

"O-oh, hi!" She nervously spurted out. "I'm Stella!"

"Name's Luna, dude." Luna waved once at Stella before turning back to Christian. "Everything been chill, so far?" Christian nodded and beamed brightly.

"Yeah, man! Better than the last time I switched schools." Christian raised his milk carton to his lips and took a mouthful and swallowed. "I cried. A lot."

"Aww!" Luna and Stella exclaimed at the thought of their friend in that situation.

Christian shook his head. "That was in the third grade though, it's all good now!" Luna slapped him on the back.

"Even if you were, I'd rock the blues right out of you!" She put her hands up defensively. "Not that I have anything against the blues, mind you."

Christian and Luna talked about music and school the rest of the lunch period, Stella occasionally chiming in. The rest of the day went by like a blur after that, although mostly a very boring blur. Physics, a study hall period, then Algebra, then the bus ride home.

When Christian walked through the front door of home, he was greeted instantly by junk all over the place, Lana chasing Lola about something, and multiple siblings arguing over the remote control. He felt slightly overwhelmed by the chaos, but nevertheless he made his way to his room, dropped off his stuff, the headed back upstairs to watch tv, even if it was some reality show about weddings or whatever.

A couple days of going to school and coming home later, everything was starting to feel a little more real again.

(Author's note: Yo guys, it's ya boi! Given recent events in Loud House canon, let's assume that this chapter took place before Relative Chaos. I'll write in that situation within the fic later (aka when I feel like it, lol).Sorry if this chapter took a little longer than usual to get to you guys, I'm trying to be on top of that. Stella belongs to one of my best friends, studiokarkats on Tumblr (who did the cover image!). Didn't want just the siblings to be friends with Christian, so expect a few more friendships outside of the Loud family! Thank you for this brief ramble, I hope you enjoyed!


	11. Eight In The Morning

(Author's Note: Hey guys, I'm back! I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update (especially after I was on track for quite some time), I just hit a wall and couldn't write for a while (nothing serious, lol). Was the chapter worth it? Probably, although I promise some better chapters are inbound to make up for lost time! Anywho, I hope you enjoy! P.S, gonna attempt to not vanish again, lol)

Lynn was never one to say no to a challenge. Heck, she often imposed challenges upon herself for the thrill of it. She thrived upon excelling at _everything_ , from sports to chores to chores she turned into sports.

So when Christian said that "I haven't worked out in a while, that's all", that sounded like a challenge to Lynn. Granted he was probably just being defensive, and never said anything directly opposing her, but it was close enough for her.

Christian had challenged her, and she had to test him.

She opened the basement door and rushed down the stairs. Christian was sound asleep, his chest rhythmically rising and falling silently. That was no good to Lynn. She pulled out her air horn and brought it next to his ear.

 **BWUAAAAAAAAAAAP!**

"Hua! W-what's going on!?" Christian screamed as he jumped up and fell onto the ground with a thud.

"We're gonna work out, you said you hadn't in awhile!" Lynn said. Christian yawned and rubbed his eyes, his heart still trying to exit his chest.

"It's _Saturday!_ I need sleep!" He cried out. The first week had made him remember why the weekends were a blessing, and he was trying to enjoy that blessing.

Lynn shook her head."Rule number one around here: don't always expect perfect sleep!"

"If people are gonna keep rupturing my ear drums like that, I'll start doing that. " Christian rose up from the ground and immediately threw himself back into bed.

"Hey, no! We're gonna go for a jog around the block for a mile!" Lynn protested.

"It's cold and not fun outside and I need some more sleep, so, no thank you." Christian began to snuggle his blankets with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Okay, I see how it is: you're just scared a little girl like me is going to be more athletic than you…" Christian's smile vanished as he slowly rose from his bed.

"First of all, you're not a little girl, you're thirteen years old. Second of all, no, it's just _way_ too early for this!"

"It's only eight in the morning!" Christian looked at her with a confused look.

"You let off an air horn at eight in the morning? When normal people are trying to sleep?" Lynn shrugged.

"They've heard worse." She shook her head. "Anyways, are you coming or not?" Moment of truth: was Christian gonna be cool or a wimp like her brother?

Christian looked her, then his dresser, then his bed, then back to her. He had been meaning to start working out again, and he'd even have a partner of sorts…

Christian sighed loudly. "Let me get dressed…"

"Yes!" Lynn cheered as she raised her arms.

"Yeah, yeah, just go upstairs please."

Lynn waited by the front door, wearing a red hoodie, sweatpants, and her usual sneakers. She knew better than to just run outside in this weather without proper clothes. She was impulsive, but she wasn't stupid.

Christian emerged from the dining room wearing black track pants, a white zip-up hoodie, black running shoes, and an annoyed look on his face.

"How long, again?" He asked.

"Only a mile around the block, easy!" Lynn said as she opened the grunt door. Christian groaned as the cold air slapped him in the face.

"Running a mile on my first day of school in bad enough. But outside of school?" He complained.

"Well then this should be a walk in the ballpark!" Lynn confidently said. They walked down to the sidewalk and Lynn began to stretch.

"Oh, it'll be a walk, alright!" Christian joked.

"Don't tell me you're the type of person to _walk_ parts of a mile!"

"I think I could jog the whole thing …" Christian pondered to himself. He had only been as slow as he was in the mile to make conversation with Stella. Maybe he could actually…

"Then go for it! Always shoot for gold!" Lynn said cheerfully. Christian chuckled to himself. She may have nearly deafened him earlier, but she wasn't being _mean_ about anything. Yet again, it was kind of mean to wake someone up like that.

Lynn finished the rest of her stretches and looked over to the teen guy. "You ready?"

Christian nodded, and the two began to slowly jog down the sidewalk. It didn't feel too bad at first, but it always felt that way at first. Because fitness was a liar.

"How long until a mile?" Christian asked.

"Lisa did some boring calculations for me a while back; it's 5 times around the block!" Lynn responded.

"Doesn't sound too bad!"

"It isn't once you get the hang of it!"

Oh god, he'd have to get the hang of this, wasn't he? Why did being responsible for your body and being healthy have to be such a pain the as- _butt,_ he was going to think butt. Couldn't think or say those words around a horde of smaller children, could he now?

A couple minutes into the jog Christian had become extremely grateful it was as cold as it was outside. As his body began to heat up and sweat up, the weather balanced it out with it's natural air conditioning abilities. The only thing uncomfortable was the sweat, but even then he barely noticed it as long as he didn't think about it.

He barely noticed the first two laps, which seemingly flew by. He hit the third lap, and the feeling of an invisible extra weight began to grow onto his legs. His breathing became heavier as he pressed forward.

"Pretty easy, right?" Lynn casually asked suddenly. Running to her was as easy as breathing, so she wasn't even really thinking about it.

"It's getting kinda eh." Christian answered inbetween breaths.

"Kinda 'eh', huh?"

Christian nodded as he began to jog slower. He didn't want to push himself too hard, even if he did want to prove something to Lynn. But Lynn seemed to not be having it.

"You're slacking, Chris! Don't be a wimp!" Lynn chastised. Christian, mostly out of spite, felt a slight second wind pick up as he forced himself to keep pace.

Christian slowly made it through the third and fourth lap approached the beginning of the fifth lap. He could feel that his body was beginning to beg for it to stop. His legs were lead, his lungs were screaming, and he felt like he might throw up. He was on the verge of not walking during the whole thing, but he was worried his body might give out before that.

"C'mon Chris, go full speed this last chunk! Don't be a wimp!" Lynn cheered. Christian felt both encouraged and insulted, and he began to pick up speed as he began to approach the house again. His body screamed no, but his mind screamed yes louder. He zoomed past the finish line, gradually slowing his sprint to a complete halt.

Christian bent over, his whole body except his stomach enjoying the sense of relief from a mile's run.

Lynn was impressed: he had definitely struggled, but he actually did it! She ran up to him and slapped him on the back.

"Way to go, Chr-" She heard the sound of liquid slapping the ground. She looked past him and saw that he had thrown up onto the sidewalk. Despite what just happened, Christian was actually beginning to laugh.

"Thanks was...fun." He slowly rose up and began to control his breathing more. Despite throwing up, he was proud that he was actually able to run the whole thing. Stella was gonna eat dust next time they did that in class!

"Good, because we're gonna have to work on the throwing up!" Lynn said.

"Heh, sorry 'bout that." Both of them began to laugh as they walked back into the house.

Later that afternoon while Christian was in the bathroom,he heard the front door loudly being burst through.

"Hey guys, check it out!" Lana announced. "I was outside on the sidewalk when I found this frozen puddle of puke! I brought it in to show you!"

"Lana, you are literally putting that _thing_ back right now!"


	12. Jean Juan's French Mex

After the incident where his kids had _attempted_ to make dinner one night, Lynn Sr. had dedicated a good amount of time to finding new recipes and new foods to try and feed his family. Granted, he'd take any chance to make his personal favorite, his goulash, but he was keeping good to his word and fresh, exciting meals kept making their way out of the kitchen. Luckily for Christian, he was able to skip to the golden age of Sr.'s cooking.

Lynn Sr. proudly sauntered to the table where the family was sit and placed down the dish of the night.

"It's your guy's favorite, goulash!" He proudly declared. Tonight was one of the nights the goulash won out, however.

The family's reaction ranged from indifference to mild disappointment at the sight of the meal. Christian, on the other hand, squinted at what he assumed to be a stew. It looked sorta like...macaroni? But brown and kind of meaty.

"...what's a goulash?" Christian finally asked. Sr. gasped at the question: who on earth didn't know what goulash was?

"Goulash is a soup or stew of meat and vegetables, seasoned with paprika and other spices, originating from the medieval Kingdom of Hungary." Lisa plainly explained.

"I thought you were a scientist, not a historian." Lana pointed out.

"Given the amount of times I've had to eat goulash in the four years I've lived, researching the stew was inevitable." Lisa said.

Christian looked down at his bowl and shrugged. Didn't look _bad_. He inhaled from his nose and the scent wasn't bad either. He picked up his spoon and dipped it in, bringing the foreign food to his mouth. He put it in his mouth and began to chew. It was...good, he guessed. The macaroni tasted like macaroni, the broth tasted fine. He swallowed.

"It's decent." Christian declared. Lynn Sr. wasn't sure if he was more relieved or disappointed. He loved to make people happy with his cooking, it was his role as the father to do that for his family. But he just supposed that it was just a matter of taste, mostly for his self esteem.

"Anything you particularly like or dislike?" Sr. hopefully asked, wanting to see if improvements could be made. But Christian just shook his head.

"It's good, I just don't really care for it." Christian's eyes widened. "Oh, speaking of food, what kind of restaurants are around here?" Christian had meant to figure that earlier, but it really wasn't that important to be at the forefront of his head. Food was very important for the young man. Very important.

"My favorite place around here is Jean Juan's French Mex!" Luna answered. Christian turned to her and stared blankly. Then he slowly blinked and swallowed another mouthful of goulash.

"Repeat that?"

"Jean Juan's French Mex, dude! It's got French and Mexican food, it's the bomb!" Christian once again blankly stared at her, his mind processing what Luna has said. Suddenly, he snorted and burst out into loud, part whooping-part wheezing laughter. His sudden outburst gained confused looks from the whole family, which he saw when he finally settled down. He instinctively rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at his meal.

"The name is just…" He paused to prevent another laughing fit. "I've never heard of a restaurant with that kind of name before, it sounds ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous!? Their fromage con queso is to die for!" Lynn rebutted. She'd have to chastise him harder the next time they jogged because of that.

"No no, the name is ridiculous! The food sounds actually kind of interesting." Christian explained. Luna perked up at the mention of his interest. She leaned over and cupped his ear.

"Dude, I'll take you there for lunch tomorrow, grub's on me!" Luna whispered. She knew she couldn't let the others know or else suddenly _everyone_ needed to go. Christian almost recoiled at the statement. That was super awesome of her to offer that! And she didn't even need to do that for him.

"Dude, thank you!" He graciously whispered back. Luna and Christian fistbumped and she returned to her normal position in her chair.

He put in another mouthful of goulash, chewed, and swallowed. "So, what other restaurants are around here?"

"Well, there's also Giovanni Changs Italian Chinese Bistro." Lincoln said. Christian immediately wheezed and entered another loud laughing fit.

The next day Christian and Luna put on their coats, walked out of the house and were on their way to Jean Juan's. Christian could barely contain himself, letting little giggles and laughs out on the way. His mirth spread to Luna, who couldn't help but laugh at his amusement.

"Dude, why are you so giggly?" She finally asked. Christian snorted and took a breath.

"You know that I'm from Chicago, right?"

"Yeah, dude."

"Well, Chicago is basically the food capital of the United States. And although I never really got out much, I had access to _all_ the food! Like, all of it! Chinese, Mexican, Italian, even Bangladeshi food!"

Luna noticed Christian was practically jumping up and down as he described home. If you got him talking, he would get pretty pumped, which she liked to see from the more reserved teen guy. It was like tuning a guitar: twist and tweak it, and it'll make some awesome noise.

"But in all of my life, I've never heard of an explicitly bi-cultural restaurant before."

"Guess Chitown isn't the food capital of the world, then." Luna teased with a grin. Christian responded with a disapproving look.

"You've never had Italian beef before, have you?"

"That's a thing?" Christian clapped his hands together and pointed at Luna.

"That explains why you committed heresy just now." Luna giggled at his overreaction and shrugged.

"You could try to convert me with the truth upon a plate." Christian smirked at her suggestion.

"You and I are going to Portillo's one day. Then you'll know what true happiness is." The thought of the combination of the delicious hot dog, perfectly salted fries, and the struggle of drinking a thick cake shake through the straw on a summer's day.

Luna laughed at his exaggeration as she kept walking ahead. She then noticed that he was no longer next to him. She stopped and turned around. Christian was seemingly frozen to the sidewalk, his face blank with a thousand yard stare. He never did that before, and it kinda freaked her out a bit.

"You, Chris!" She called out. Christian suddenly blinked and shook his head. He caught up to her and kept walking, not mentioning what just happened.

"You okay, dude?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, just spaced out." Christian quickly explained. It didn't seem legit to her, but Luna figured he probably wasn't ready to talk about it. Maybe later she'd ask later.

They walked in silence for a bit longer before they came to their destination: Jean Juan's French Mex. The silence was instantly broken as Christian made eye contact with the building.

"Yeaaah, French Mex!" He declared before bursting out into laughter. The outside made no particular impact in it's own, but with the inclusion of the neon portly Mexican man potentially wearing a black and white sweat on the front made him lose it.

"Rock on, French Mex!" Luna chimed in with her British accent. The way Christian played up what he found ridiculous was practically contagious.

Christian found himself bent over, coughing and wiping a tear from his eye. He sighed once he had gotten the giggles out.

"It's so dumb, dude…"

They went inside, were led to a table, sat down and took off their coats. Christian maintained a steady smirk on his face as he observed his surroundings. Tricolors and triangle banners, fleur-de-lis' and Mexican pottery: it was _bizarre and_ _surreal_.

The waiter came by, took their order, and was on their way, leaving the two to themselves. Luna was smiling to herself, enjoying that she was spending time with Christian outside of the house and school. This was her favorite sit-in restaurant, with a lot of memories here. A lot of memories.

Luna's smile faded as she looked sadly at an empty booth across the restaurant. Christian instantly noticed her change of attitude. She never did that before, and it kind of freaked him out a bit.

"You good, dude?" He asked with concern. Luna nodded then turned back to him.

"Yeah dude, just reminiscing." She said.

"What about?" There was a pause, and soon Luna sighed.

"For my first relationship, we came here after hitting up a concert." She faintly smiled. "It was smashing." She Britished. Christian felt an instant pang of sorrow hit his heart.

"I feel you, man. September 22nd was ruined for me a couple of years ago." Christian said with a smirk. Luna giggled.

"Aw dude, now Sam, I don't think she could've ruined a whole day for me."

"That's because you have good tastes, like in music!" Christian said. Luna smiled widely at the compliment, even if she had heard it a couple times already.

"That's actually why we got together: she was a cool rocker chick like your truly, and she was super cute, so I really couldn't help myself."

"Why didn't it work out?" Christian asked, but almost instantly regretted it. What business did he have to know about something like that? But Luna didn't seem phased by the question, but did sigh a little.

"We couldn't really connect like that. Like, we had our interest in rock, and we were friendly beforehand. But when we were together like that, I didn't feel…" She paused for a couple of seconds, searching deep and hard for the right word like a riff from an old song in the back of your head.

"...connected. She's a cool dude, a really cool dude! But romantically I just couldn't the same." She finally said. Luna put her head down on the table and sighed. "I feel like I let us both down." Christian instantly put her hand on her shoulder, causing her to bring her head up.

"Hey, don't worry about. You felt how you felt at the time, and that's okay. Even if it didn't work out, at least you were honest with yourself in the end." Christian chuckled and shook his head. "I did the same thing once. He was a great guy, and he's one of the best friends I've ever had. But I rushed in and I didn't feel the same way in the end. Doesn't make you bad or responsible for anything like that."

He affectionately ruffled her hair and warmly smiled at her.

"So don't feel bad. Keep your chin up and chill, alright? Don't need my personal concert feeling down because of the past."

Luna looked up at with Christian with an appreciative smile. She had moved on, but the weight of the situation had it's presence ever since. It was like a pit in her stomach, something that made her almost feel ill when she thought about it. Luna of course knew she shouldn't blame herself, but hearing Christian's words and his experience gave her the push to finally accept that.

"Thanks dude, I need to hear that." Christian presented a fist, and Luna brought hers to his.

"Don't mention it, dude. I owe you guys all I can give." Christian felt a weight come off his chest as his attempt to help her worked. He normally wasn't good with that sort of thing, often times he didn't know what to say. Personal experience definitely helped, and he wasn't gonna let her be upset like he was for the longest time.

"Hey, is that why September 22nd is jacked up for you?" Luna asked with a smirk. Christian snorted and chuckled.

"Nah, that was another ex." Christian shuddered. "We don't discuss August first through September 22 of my freshman year."

With perfect timing to end that conversation, they're food arrived. Christian looked at the food with joy and amusement, thanking the waiter before he walked off. He watched the waiter walk away until he disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

"You notice he had a nice ass, too?" Christian casually brought up. Luna was snapped out of her stupor, her eyes returning from the waiter was last seen. She laughed despite the fact that her face was flushed red.

"I thought I was the only one!" Luna said. Both of the teens burst out into loud, merry laughter before eating their French and Mexican meals.

Luna loved being able to just joke around with Christian, but now she had a newfound appreciation for his quieter, wiser side. Dude, he rocked.

(Author's Note: Hey, hopefully this was worth the wait! Got a burst of inspiration from the latest episode when it came to things, had to take that into account for reasons. *Couch* Glad it happened today tbh, if I finished without watching the latest episode, I'd look like a goob! :p Hopefully I can keep this writing streak running! Please Enjoy!)


	13. Pig Wrestling

Winter was on it's way out the door, the snow only in separate piles amidst a sea of yellow, dead grass. Water dripped from where icicles once clung to trees and houses, and the sun was shining through a mostly grey sky. To everyone in Royal Woods, it was the signal for the renewal of life and the beginning of spring.

Speaking of renewal of life, the backyard the Loud House was once again being heavily used for various Loud House shenanigans. On this particular day, Christian was led out by Lynn for a "special workout". Ever since their first jog, the two had become unofficial training partners. It was mostly jogging, but occasionally they did something different, much to Christian's dismay: he mostly just wanted to sleep in.

Christian emerged into the waking world and discovered Lana rolling around in the mud, getting herself covered head-to-toe in wet earth. She noticed Christian and Lynn walk out and got up to her knees, waving to them.

"Hey Chris! You ready to pig wrestle?" Lana excitedly asked. Christian cocked an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" He turned to Lynn. "Is this what you were talking about?"

"Yep! I figured that this would help with situational awareness, give you a good workout, help build teamwork since we're working together on this…" Lynn slapped him on the back firmly. "It'll be fun, don't sweat it!"

Christian rubbed his back and thought about it for a second. He hadn't really gotten down and dirty like that in a _long_ time. But it was the Loud's we were talking about, he was used to new, weird nonsense getting thrown at him at this point: he had to fight to get to the _bathroom_ of all places! Plus working out with Lynn was fun most of the time, and Lana was a pretty cool little dude when she wasn't being _filthy_.

"Alright, I'm game!" Christian announced with a smile.

"Great!" Lynn exclaimed. "On-your-mark-get-ready-set-go!"

"Wait Lynn, I'm not in my workOU-!" Christian felt the jock push him over the railing and onto the mud, him flipping mid air and landing on his back. He slowly rose up, his fall being broken by the wet earth, so he felt no pain.

"...workout clothes." He shuddered as felt the mud slowly creep down his back. "Gaaaaah!"

"Don't worry about it, mud isn't _that_ dirty!" Lana comforted. "Besides, you wear basically the same outfit everyday, you'll be fine!"

"I have color variations!" Christian retorted. Granted his favorite and most worn outfit was the one he had walked out of the mall with, he switched it up with different pants and other colored button ups. He wasn't indecent! Actually, now that he thought about it they all basically wore the same outfits or variations of their outfits.

"It's Lunatic Lynn off the turnbuckle!" Lynn suddenly called out. Christian looked up and his eyes widened as he saw Lynn, suddenly in a luchadore mask, standing on the railing. She leapt off and fell towards Christian, who raised her arm to defend himself, but it was in vain. Lynn crashed into him, Christian's wind being slammed out of him with a loud gasp.

"One two three! He's out, and Lunatic Lynn has done it again!" Lunatic Loud rose from the ground and flexed her muscles. Christian coughed as he rose up, still recovering from the sudden weight on his gut.

"D-dude, that wasn't the kind of wrestling I agreed to!" Christian said.

"Rule number two: expect the unexpected!" Christian huffed as he rose to his feet. He looked down at his nice sneakers and sighed. How was he gonna clean that level of filth? The teen hoped that Leni could come up with something.

"C'mon guys, you gotta chase me now!" Lana called out. Christian unbuttoned the once button on his shirt and tossed up onto the deck.

"Let's get this over with…" He groaned as he took a step forward, but felt the mud slip from under him and he slammed into the wet ground. He slowly raised his muddied face as he heard the two sisters cracking up with laughter.

"Amatuer work, Chris! Now lemme show you how a pro-AH!" Lynn's gloating was cut off she also slipped and planted herself next to Christian. This time, it was he and Lana who were laughing. Christian looked back to the laughing mechanic and slyly grinned . Suddenly he rose up and ran up to her, scooping her up while her guard was down.

"No fair, that's cheating!" Lana protested. She squirmed and wiggled as hard as she could to break away.

"You're just mad cause you let your guard-!" Lana managed to slip through his grasp and back onto the ground, quickly scurrying away towards more open space. "...down."

"That's what you get!" Lana said before she dodged a tackle coming from Lynn. Christian's eyes widened: he knew she played football like a pro, so if Lana was giving her the slip, then this was gonna be _complicated._

Christian and Lynn circled Lana like velociraptors in Jurassic Park, both trying to find a moment of weakness in their prey. They both suddenly dived for her. Lana slid away from under them, causing Christian and Lynn to crash into each other's faces mid-air. The both plummeted to the ground and groaned loudly. Lynn took of her luchadore mask and got to her feet.

"You know, if I didn't have that mask off we might've accidently kissed or something!" Christian sat up gave her a confused look.

"Have you been thinking about that?" Christian asked, causing Lynn to chuckle.

"Don't get your hopes up, nerd!" Lynn teased

"You're a nerd!" Christian teased back.

"I'm a sportstar, not a nerd!

"You're a sports nerd!"

"That doesn't make sense!"

"It does! You're a nerd about sports!" Christian felt the lucha mask hit his face before he saw it, and as much as his face stung he couldn't help but laugh loudly. He peeled it off of his face and chucked it onto the deck. He looked at the annoyed look on Lynn's face and laughed even harder.

"Guys, c'mon, I'm not even tired yet!" Lana complained. The two pig catcher stopped and looked at her, then looked at each other. Lynn waved Christian over, who got up from the mud and walked over, and took a knee with her.

"Alright, we need a gameplan!" Lynn harshly whispered.

"Why didn't we make one in the first place?"

"Because you jumped in, so I jumped in!"

"You pushed me off the deck!"

"Because I knew you could handle it!" Christian opened his mouth to say something, but all that emerged was a sigh.

"We're arguing over nothing." He pointed out. Lynn also sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You're right." She raised a fist, and the two fist bumped. "Got any ideas?"

"Well, there's two of us: we need to take advantage of that."

"One of us can get her moving, then the other cuts her off?" Lynn suggested.

"That'll do, but she's quicker than both of us in the mud." Christian pointed out. The whole time the mud had given Lana an edge. She was faster and slippery, and it made her hard to even grab onto. Mud was super annoying for reasons other than cleanliness, much to his surprise.

"Well, about we turn that to our advantage?" Lynn pointed to a mud trail that formed when Lana slid away from them. Christian's eyes widened in realization.

"Ohhh. Hit 'em with the ole slip n' slide!"

"Exactly! Now, you go get her running and I'll handle bringing her down!" Christian nodded and the two got off their crouch walked, slowly approached the pig.

"So, you like mud, right?" Christian asked to get her attention.

"I love mud! I'd be muddy all day if Mom and Dad allowed me!" Lana said. Christian nodded. While Lana was distracted by him, Lynn was setting up at an angle to her little sister.

"That'd be kinda gross and unhygienic, my dude. But I respect that. Kinda like how I respect that you're pig wrestling with us, but you're the pig."

"Aw, shucks, I just wanted to play with you guys!" Christian was only a few feet from Lana now, and Lynn looked at him and nodded.

"Aw that's so swe-AAA!" Christian faked out Lana as he dived suddenly towards her. As expected, she slid out of the way and was intercepted by Lynn, who slid into her and took the two straight into the chain-link fence. Christian rushed over and after seeing that the two weren't injured immediately helped Lynn pin Lana to the ground.

Lana struggled, squirmed, wiggled, and shimmied to no avail. She finally stopped struggling against the two and laughed.

"Wow, I'm surprised you two got me as quickly as you did!" Lana congratulated the two pig catchers. Christian looked slightly offended at the statement as he and Lynn got off of the child.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lana shrugged and grinned.

"You don't know the mud like I do, that's all. Except maybe Lynn, but even then she's not on my level!" Lynn suddenly looked slightly mad at her little sister.

"You wanna test those words?"

"Yeah, if you can even catch me a second time!" Lana taunted as she scrambled to her feet and bolted.

"Oh no you don't!" Lynn screamed as she pursued. Christian shook his head and smiled.

They were totally gonna get him killed one day.


	14. Crowded Halls

Christian was wary of the upstairs hallway. He always heard it when it was in full swing, and it didn't sound like a place he wanted to be at. He always made it a point to either go to the bathroom or hang with Luna or whoever during the in-betweens of chaos.

This time upstairs he was with Lincoln in his room, who needed help with just the last question on his history homework. It was easy, the Civil War was always something Christian could remember easily. American history and war were his two favorites of his.

"And there ya go! That's how the South had no chance of winning the war!" Christian said. Lincoln closed his history textbook and slipped it into his backpack.

"Gee, I never realized how complex the Civil War was! Thanks, Christian!" Christian waved the compliment away.

"Don't mention it, man. Least I can do since you guys are letting me live here and use your stuff." Christian rose from the bed and walked over to the door. "Speaking of using your stuff, I need to go to the bathroom."

Christian opened the door and looked on in horror at the scene before him. The entire hallway had devolved into chaos as multiple sisters were out and about doing their own activities. It looked like a loud, hazardous death trap to him.

He slowly closed the door, the soft click of the door drowned out by multiple raised voices and screams and music.

"Actually, would you mind if I used a corner in here?" Christian asked apprehensively. Lincoln's eyes widened as he shot out of bed.

"There's no way I'm letting you use my room as a toilet!" Lincoln exclaimed as he crossed his arms. "You haven't had to make a bathroom run, have you?"

"I mean, I've only gone when it's been quiet…" Christian sheepishly said. He had been here long enough to feel comfortable, so he felt a little embarrassed that hadn't at least attempted to brave the storm. Lincoln smiled and put a hand on Christian's back.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you how to get to the bathroom." Lincoln said. "All you need is _Lincoln Loud's Three P's To Go Poo and Pee_!" Christian snorted and covered his mouth.

"I'm sorry dude, but that name's pretty gooby!"

"It won't seem ridiculous once you see it in action." Lincoln smoothly responded. "All you need is patience, perseverance, and problem solving!" Christian cocked an eyebrow.

"That kind of goes without saying, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, but you need to actively keep them in mind when the bathroom is involved." Lincoln walked over to his door and opened it, the noise of the sisters flooding the room. "After you!"

Christian steeled himself and walked out of the room, getting a better look at the chaos in front of him. Lana was chasing Lola around with one of her snakes. Lily was crawling around with some device strapped to her wrist while Lisa watched. Luna had brought out a speaker and was playing her guitar in the hall. Leni and Lori seemed to be having an argument over clothes as a humongous pile of clothes partially blocked the hallway. Finally, Lynn was using everything in the hall as obstacles to dodge as she carried a football.

Christian looked on in horror, frozen in place. How the hell was he going to make it through _that_? Lincoln walked past him a few feet and looked back.

"I'll help you with your first time through, just follow my lead!" Christian swallowed and the two began to make their way through the hall. Lily crawled between Christian's legs as the two boys watched her crawl by.

"Uh, Lis? What's that on her wrist?" Lincoln asked.

"Relax brother unit, it's only a pedometer. I'd like to have an estimate of how many miles in a day she can travel."

"Oh, that's not that bad actually."

"If my estimates are correct, I can begin to use her kinetic energy to fuel some of my experiments."

"Aaaaannd you made it weird." Christian said. He and Lincoln continued forward through the hall when suddenly Lynn tackled Christian to the ground.

"Jesus, Lynn!" He yelped. Lynn leapt off of him and began to jog in place.

"C'mon, Chris! I'm just trying to keep you on your toes!" Christian rose to his feet and tried to move past her, but she blocked his path.

"Really, dude?" Christian asked.

"Gotta push through me!" Christian inhaled in frustration as he tried to force his way through her, but despite the size and age difference she was able to easily keep him still. He kept applying more and more force, but she wasn't budging. Christian was starting to get nervous when an idea popped into his head. He quickly began to push with full force, until he could feel her match up to his strength. Suddenly he shifted to the side, causing Lynn to fly forwards with a yelp.

"Very good, Christian! That's perseverance covered!" Lincoln cheered. Christian nodded, not expecting that to have played out as well as it did. They walked a couple and managed to avoid the twins chasing each other, but we're halted by the wall of clothes that had piled up. Lori and Leni's muffled argument was barely audible through the mountain.

"Wh-what? How many clothes do they have?!" Christian exclaimed. He knew girls could pile up clothes, but holy crap!

"Hmm, sounds like we need some problem solving…" Lincoln not so subtly hinted as he yelled over Luna's music. Christian looked at him, then the wall. How on earth was he gonna push through that?

Christian suddenly remembered where he was. He looked to his right and saw Luna next to her giant speaker strumming on her guitar. A sly grin formed on his face as he tapped her shoulder.

Luna snapped out of her groove and opened her eyes, smiling when she saw who had interrupted.

"Yo, dude!"

"Yo Luna! Listen, I need your help with Mount Fashion right there." Christian gestured to the pile next to them. Luan's eyes widened as she whistled in awe.

"Bloody-" She stopped herself when she saw Lincoln. "Anyways, how can I help? Need some motivational sounds?" Christian smiled.

"Yeah, something along those lines!".

He and Luna shifted her speaker to face Mount Fashion, and brought it to it's base. Luna leaned over and cranked it up as far as it could go. The trio stood back, Luna prepping her guitar and the two boys bracing for impact. Luna brought her hand above her head, pick ready for action.

"One two three four!" She brought the hammer down and the speaker screamed, bringing down Mount Fashion in one fell swoop. Two screams were heard from the other side as the clothes crashed onto the eldest sisters.

"Lori, I'm so sorry we fought! Now we're dead!" Leni's muffled voice cried out.

"We're not dead, Leni! We're literally buried in our clothes!" Lori's muffled voice responded.

Christian winced, feeling bad that he had accidentally buried the two in their own clothes. It was kind of funny in an ironic way, though. Lincoln walked onto the reduced pile and began digging.

"I'll rescue my sisters, you have to continue on your own." Christian nodded and began the final run the final stretch. "Nice job with the problem solving!" Lincoln called out.

As Christian walked up to the door he realized that it was actually shut. Mentally cursing his bad luck, he knocked on the door.

"I need to use the bathroom!" He said.

"Oh, hey Christian!" Luan greeted through the door. "I bet you're a stand up guy in the bathroom, so I'll be quick!" Christian scowled as he heard her laugh in the bathroom.

"Sorry, that pun was pretty crappy! Hahaha, get it?"

"I have to pee, Luan!"

"Ooh, sounds like your urine trouble! Hahahahaha!" Christian pressed his forehead to the door and groaned. This must be the third p: patience.

"Hey Chris, why don't you ever hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom?"

"It's cause the p is silent!"

"Yep! Hahaha!" Christian sighed loudly. How long was this gonna take?

"Okay okay, last one I promise! You know, I hate puns about toilet paper!" The door open and Luan walked out with a roll of toilet paper in her hands. "They're _tearable_!" She burst out into a laughing fit as she tossed him the roll, walking down the hall. Christian looked at it in disbelief before shaking his head and walking into the bathroom, almost slamming it behind him.

A couple of minutes later, Christian walked out a relieved man. Lincoln was waiting for him, leaning up against the wall.

"See? I knew you could do it! I barely had to help!" Lincoln said. Christian chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Nah dude, I needed the backup back there." He extended his fist towards Lincoln. "Thanks, dude!"

Their fists met, both of them feeling a sort of partnership begin to form.


	15. Tension

Christian took a deep breath to relieve the tension that knotted in his gut as he approached the door of Lisa and Lily's room. Lana had come down the basement to relay to him that Lisa had formally requested him to come to her room, for what reason was not mentioned. What was first mild annoyance manifested into the knot in his gut as he made his assumptions as to why he would be called up like this. And boy would have been fine if they never addressed it.

The door was cracked open, making him wonder if it was done for his arrival, and he peaked in to see if anything was happening. The crib was empty with no Lily in sight, whilst Lisa was at her desk/lab station. There were many papers strewn about, some printed with neat typing or pictures and looked like a paper a professor would write. Others were scratch paper with multiple crude drawings and equations scattered on the paper. It looked like she was in the middle of an equation, her pencil frozen on the paper.

Christian swallowed nervously, his mind flashing back to his first day here and how seemingly cold the four year old was. And now she wanted him in her room again, this time with no Lily. He put his hand on the door and pushed it open.

"You needed me?" Christian asked. Lisa turned to him with the same bored or analytical look on her face, he could never tell to be honest.

"Ah, you've finally arrived. Come in and close the door behind you." Christian did as was asked, shuffling in and closing the door slowly behind him. She waved him over to the desk, and he walked over.

"As you can see, the main focus of my studies as of late has been relating to multiverse theories, specifically the concept of intra-dimensional travel." She pulled up a piece of printed paper and handed it to Christian. It showed multiple pictures of possible models for the multiverse: some like layers of a cake, others like a cluster of water droplets. Upon confirming that this what he indeed about what he didn't want to talk about, the knot in his stomach began to make itself more apparent.

"Once there's confirmation as to the type of model our multiverse is, the road to creating a consistent means of travel will be paved quite well." Lisa said with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Okay, but didn't you say that the tech for this is a few years away?" Christian asked with confusion obvious in his voice. They technically already had this conversation already, and as cool as those models he didn't get the point of him being shown them.

"I did say that, perhaps too soon. If I commit most if not all of my resources to this for some time I might be able to send you to your place of origin sooner than anticipated." Lisa re-adjusted her glasses with a finger to the middle of the frame. "However, there are no promises given the current state of the field and how it is consisting mostly of hypothetics and is very lacking in technology. I mean, who can just _make_ a intradimensional device? It's pure science fiction even for me to just have that technology on hand!" The genius ranted.

"Oh." Was all Christian could get out. He might be able to go home early? After having resigned himself to living with the family and enjoying it for the most part? "That's, uh, that's cool." That kind of response was what Lisa was expecting.

"You seem almost upset by the news." Lisa observed. Christian's eyes widened, caught off guard by the geniuses accurate statement. The knot in his stomach tightened like if Lynn tugged it as hard as she could. "It was apparent from how easily you accepted your condition and how quickly you integrated into our family unit. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong that you've done so, the family including myself have benefited from this."

"They have?" Lisa nodded and pulled out a notepad. She flipped through a few pages and scanned the page she landed on.

"Although not all the family unit has become quite as affiliated with you, it is obvious that you've made friends with half of the others, particularly Luna." Christian was dead silent and looking at Lisa intently. He knew that he had yet to begin knowing the other siblings, but he had become quite friendly with the siblings he had been talking to. He figured he would be able to interact with the others at some point.

"But how does this benefit you?" He asked. The genius simply shrugged.

"It makes for a fascinating study on how introduction of a new specimen in a normally contained environment for an indefinite amount of time can affect said environment." Christian's eyebrows narrowed at Lisa.

"Hmm." Christian meekly grunted while crossing his arms. He wasn't entirely sure he liked being almost used as a lab rat for the girl, but it was what it was: he wasn't really affiliated with her, and after what the siblings often told of her experimenting he made a note to avoid her when he could.

"Anywho, the point I wished to make was that there had to be a reason why you adapted so quickly to your new environment, especially considering that you can't see your own family unit anymore." Christian's knot suddenly jerked again in his gut so bad almost felt sick. He suddenly darted his eyes away from the gaze of the almost-cold scientist.

"I still miss home." Christian almost snapped, just barely too quick to hide anything. Lisa figured the teen boy would respond in such a manner.

"Of course, I wouldn't suggest that you don't miss your home. Anyone, including myself would feel the affects from being forcefully and suddenly moved from home." Lisa could see Christian's hands tighten their grip on his arms. Perhaps this conversation would best be reserved for another time, she didn't want to pressure the subject too much in such a short time frame. "It's none of my business regardless, so I won't inquire." Christian didn't react for a second, the knot is his stomach barely beginning to ease. He sighed and finally turned back to Lisa.

"Is that all?" Christian asked. Lisa nodded.

"Yes, you may resume whatever activities you were initiating." Christian swiftly left the room, the door firmly shutting behind him. Lisa looked at her notepad again, then to the door.

"Interesting." She said as she pulled out a pen and began to add to her notes. "We'll see how this plays out in the long run."

(Author's note: Hey guys, sorry if this took a while to get out. I wanted to actually add a sprinkle of plot to the story again before it got boring or something, lol. Just wanted to thank everyone for the continued feedback and support as well, you guys really do make this possible!

Also to that one guest, this fic actually took at least two months or so of pure thinking before I actually got to writing. I understand if the dimension thing isn't your thing (I doubt a lot of people will like Lost N' Loud for that reason alone), but don't tell me I didn't plan this (I'm doing something with it, I promise!).

Alas, enough of me back talking an anon because I'm that insecure, I hope you all enjoyed! -Pixel)


	16. Ease

Christian practically slid down the stairs as he was consumed with the whirlwind of thoughts caused by his brief conversation with Lisa. At first, he wasn't entirely sure why this had taken him so off guard: it could've been the reason he had been where he had been that night and ended up here. So why did he never even think about it this much before?

His eyes were focused on the ground as he dragged himself toward the couch. He collapsed face-first onto it from the side, his legs sticking off of the side. He felt like utter crap, especially when he realized that Lisa was right about how quickly he just accepted the situation. But he couldn't help that, could he? They were such and awesome, albeit chaotic, family to be apart of! And after the initial terror he felt when he realized the situation, they helped and embraced him and made him feel not afraid.

"Uhh, are you okay, Christian?" He heard Lori say. Christian forced himself to raise his head and realized that Lori was sitting on the couch. There was a pause before Christian sighed and placed his head back down.

"You're literally acting like Lucy right now." He heard her sigh and could visualize her perhaps crossing her arms. "What's wrong? Did Lisa do some creepy experiment on you?"

Christian's muffled laughter erupted from the couch. He raised his head and this time set it down on it's side.

"What makes you guess that?"

"Lana told me after she told you. She said you looked nervous and that she was worried Lisa might do something to you." Christian felt his heart warm from the mechanic's concern. "You should sit like a normal person, Lynn literally was farting all over the couch again earlier."

Christian groaned and swung his legs from the side of the couch to the front, before rising up and sitting normally.

"Now tell me what's wrong." Christian looked at Lori after the order, half expecting a look of annoyance, but saw a general face of seriousness. He looked away, his hand unconsciously reaching up into his hair and running through it.

"I'm not sure where I want to start…you've gotten into arguments with your sisters and Linc, even your parents before, right?" Lori nodded.

"Of course, literally everyone does."

"But...you always made up in the end, right?"

"As much as they all make me want to turn them into human pretzels, I could never not make up with them. I love them, even if it doesn't always show." Lori looked towards the window, reminiscing about the more notable times the family's bonds were strained. From Lincoln's rather crude phone call after she broke his vr headset to what she perceived to be her family jeopardizing her party or even her relationship with Bobby, nothing that happened could ever cause permanent damage in any way. It was natural for families to go through that, even ones as unorthodox as hers.

Christian smiled at the answer. Of course he didn't think the eldest sister, as much as she seemed kinda catty, wasn't outright a jerk. Like she said, it didn't always show.

"Thank you, I…I needed that." Christian said with a warm smile. Lori looked at the smile with a confused look.

"Aren't you gonna tell me what's going on?" Lori asked. Christian opened his mouth to speak, but it quickly shut. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"Eventually, just...when I'm ready, is all, if that's okay?" Christian said. Lori shrugged.

"It's literally not my life, so take your time."

"Thank you, Lori."

"Don't mention it."

Christian closed his eyes and reclined into the couch, sighing this time out of relief. He had plenty of time to address stuff, so he didn't need to rush. It'd all come in due time, and he was sure he'd have the Loud's support like he had had these past few weeks.

Lori, as much as she wanted to not care too much, couldn't help but feel slight concern for their guest. Big sister instinct she guessed was why, she learned to recognize a serious situation when it arose and how to stamp it out before it got out of hand. She'd probably tell Luna or Lincoln or Lynn, they seemed the most close to him and could probably help speed this along.

Christian finally opened his eyes and looked at the tv.

"What're you watching?"

"I literally have no idea."

The both of them stared at the weird cartoon before them. It looked like some ninjas were fighting some other ninjas and there was a some girl beating up all of them?

"Your dimension has some weird cartoons…"

"And yours didn't?" Christian shrugged.

"Fair enough."

(Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long! I have no idea what happened, I just never say down and wrote it until now ;w;

I know it was short, but I hope it was worth it! -Pixel)


	17. Clubbing

(Hey guys, welcome to my longest chapter yet! Studiokarkats from Tumblr and I rp'd this for authenticity, and we both had a blast putting this together. Since it's so long please forgive any typos and don't be afraid to tell me about them! Hope you enjoy! -Pixel

Christian sighed as he brought his head down to the lunchroom table. "Okay, so I need to start doing extracurricular activities for college and stuff." He complained to his two lunch friends, Luna and Stella.

Stella looked concernedly down at her friend's sad demeanor, eyebrows scrunched together a little. "I know how that feels," She replied, thinking of all the extracurriculars her mother had her doing just to stand out to different colleges. "Do you have any ideas of what you'd wanna do?"

Christian sighed. "Nah dude. I've never even been a part of any clubs for high school _ever_." He rubbed his face and groaned.

"Why not, dude?" Luna asked.

Christian shrugged. "I just...I never had any motivation in anything really. Only reason I'd do it is because my mom would've wanted me to do it for college. Not like it really matters now, but...I dunno." Luna wrapped an arm around him.

"Don't sweat it dude, we'll help ya figure it out! It'll be fun!"

"Yeah!" Stella agreed with Luna, "I'm in a few different extracurriculars, you could always start there and try those out," Stella gave a small smile, " Besides, it might be easier having a friend who's already in a club."

Christian smiled warmly at his friends support. "Heh, thanks dudes! Heck, I never even started working out until Lynn basically strong armed me into it." Christian rubbed his sore calves after having ran a mile that morning with Lynn. "This could totally be fun for all I know!"

"Yeah dude, we could totally try out the Rock Club!" Luna suggested. She was still on a personal crusade to convert Christian to the religion of rock n' roll, and this would be a super fun way to do it.

"Rock Club?" A confused voice rang out. Suddenly behind Stella stood a confused looking Leni. "Is that, like, where you look at rocks and stuff?"

Luna sighed. "No Leni, I'm talking about music."

"Oh."

Stella's face flushed a little at the sound of the familiar voice of her crush. She and Leni made eye contact for a brief moment as Leni walked over. Stella tried to act cool as she went silent and looked anywhere but her. Leni sat down next to Stella, giving her a glance and a small smile. Stella found the bravery to give a small smile back. She shrank into herself a little, and tried to focus back on the conversation at hand.

Christian and Luna looked at one another and gave eachother a smirk. They both knew of their friend's crush, and tried to help them get together whenever possible

"So yeah, let's all go club hunting for Chris after school!" Luna proposed with enthusiasm.

"Oh, is there a hunting club?" Leni looked to Luna and Christian with a confused look on her face, "Why would anyone ever want to hurt poor helpless animals?" Stella gave a little laugh at this.

"N-no Leni, after school clubs, like the ones here at school!" Christian explained quickly to avoid upsetting the fashionista further.

"Ohhh." Leni nodded.

"Which club do you wanna try first?" Stella piped up.

"Uuuuuuuh..." Christian droned. "I mean, I think we could all head to Rock Club first and see what's up." Christian said.

"Well chosen, love!" Luna rejoiced. "It'll be a smashing time, I assure you!"

"I mean, a club _is_ used to smash things. Hahahaha!" Luan suddenly appeared in between Christian and Luna. "Get it?" Luna groaned while Christian chuckled. Luan was always hit or miss with him. "I don't wanna bash it over your head or anything, but Comedy Club is a great way to kill time!" Luan laughed harder this time.

Leni joined in Luna's groaning, while Stella gave a laugh at this. Puns were a favorite of hers, even bad ones.

"Alrighty then, let's meet up after school and we'll go explore some clubs!" Christian proposed. Luna and Luan nodded, both eager to convert the teen boy to their cause.

"Sounds good!" Stella gave a nod.

"See you guys then!" Leni gave a wave

The mundane school day passed from there, the promise of something of substance to do for Christian making it either go longer or shorter for him. He honestly couldn't tell. When the final bell rang, the group of Luna, Christian, Stella and Leni grouped up in the foyer of the school. "Alrighty Luna, lead us to the promised land. "Right on, follow me lads!"

Luna led them down the hallway and they hooked a right, and before them laid the band room. "Wednesday's are when the other official school music groups aren't using the band room, so we chill and jam out on today!" Luna exclaimed. She opened the door and presented it to the others. "After you!"

Christian walked in and saw multiple rocker types like Luna in the room. Suddenly, a guitar screeched from behind him and the force of the speaker sent him flying across the room and into the drum set across the room.

Stella and Leni walked in after them, they saw Christian in a pile of drums. Stella gasped and headed over to the boy in the pile, giving her hand for him to take to help him up. Luna, however, stood there trying to stifle her laughter. Who knew that Christian would have a problem with speaker launching?

Christian rose from the set, his head having pierced through and went inside one of the drums. His hands awkwardly felt around around the piece of equipment, before they reached around blindly before finally meeting up with Stella's hand. He felt himself be hoisted up from the ground and was left on his own two feet. "Well this is a good way to start the club hunt."

"Jesus, George, you could've killed that kid!" A female voice scolded. "I didn't mean to do that!" George replied. A girl with blonde hair and blue streaks walked over to Christian and grabbed the drum, lifting it swiftly off of his head. Christian looked a little shaken up from the flight and temporary blindness.

A guy wearing a leather jacket ran up to him with a face full of regret and worry. "Dude, I am _so_ sorry about that!"

Christian's slight fear turned into laughter as he waved it off. "Nah it's cool dude, I'm used to it from her." He pointed to Luna, who chuckled and threw up her hands.

"Guilty as charged, mate."

"You know him, Lun?" The blonde asked.

"Yep! He's basically my apprentice at this point." Luna replied with a hint of pride in her voice. The girl turned back to Christian and extended a fist.

"I'm Sam, that's George." Christian's eyes widened as the two bumped fists: so _this_ was Luna's ex! He wasn't entirely sure how to feel...she was kinda cute, actually.

"I'm Christian!"

"Pleasure to meet ya, Chris!" Sam looked to Stella and Leni. "Who are you dudes?"

"I-I'm Stella," Stella stuttered out, surprised at the sudden attention, "Here to support a friend, haha..."

"I'm Leni!" Leni gave a wave and a cute smile.

"Nice to meet you guys!" George said before turning to Christian. "You like to rock out, man?" Christian awkwardly rubbed his neck and chuckled.

"All I've ever done is listen to it on my phone or listen to Luna play, dude." Christian explained almost apologetically. Luna suddenly ran up to him and wrapped an arm around him.

"And that's why I brought you here! We're gonna make ya scream 'I love rock n' roll' before ya know it!" Christian blushed a little.

"You sure?" He asked unsurely. Sam slapped Christian in the back with an excited look on her face.

"If Luna's down, I'm down!" Lovers or not, Sam still trusted Luna's judgement without question due to Luna's sheer raw talent and musical genius. That and she wasn't a total narcissist because of it.

George looked over to Leni and Stella. "Either of you two, down?" He asked.

"I don't really play any instruments." Leni said with a little shrug.

"Me either," Stella agreed with her, "Well wait-does ukulele count? Or the trumpet?"

"If you worked for it, you could make it super rad!" Luna said, the other rockers nodding in agreement.

"Well, if you have either of those instruments on hand I could always give it a try," Stella gave a nervous laugh, secretly wanting to impress Leni.

"Wow, you know how to play the trumpet _and_ ukulele? That's like, totes amazing!" Leni looked amazed at Stella. Stella simply flushed in return, giving a bashful smile.

"I gotcha, dude!" Luna said as she walked over to a closet, opened it, and pulled out a trumpet. "Show us your stuff, sis!" Luna tossed the brass instrument to Stella. Stella jumped a little, alarmed at the sudden instrument flying towards her. She caught it but not without fumbling and almost dropping it first. Stella glanced from the trumpet first, then to the group and back to the trumpet.

"Yeah, you got this Bella!," Leni gave Stella a thumbs up. "R-Right," Stella gulped and blushed a bit. She placed the trumpet to her lips and began to play. It started off jazzy and fun as she was just winging it. It then began to form into that of 'It Won't Be Long Now' from In the Heights. She didn't mean for it to turn into that but it sounded good so she rolled with it.

Everyone in the room couldn't help but find themselves begin to sway and eventually dance along with the excellent performance. Luna grabbed Christian by the hands and dragged the two of them into a little tango, much to the surprise of Christian. Leni swayed a bit to the music herself, giving Stella another thumbs up.

Stella smiled a little as she played, ecstatic that the group all began to dance. That had to mean that they liked it, right? And heck, if they were gonna tango Stella decided to change the tune a little, making it flow into that of 'The Club' also from In the Heights.

Christian and Luna kept dancing together, Sam and George beginning to do the same. Christian felt slightly alienated, not having really danced with _anyone_ before, but with Luna he couldn't help but feel...at ease.

Stella let the few friends dance for a minute or so longer before the song gently faded out with a nice ending. Stella's cheeks were a little red from playing and she breathed a little heavily, chest rising up and down. She looked from face to face for some sort of approval.

"Duuuude, that was rad!" Sam exclaimed with joy. She and George threw up devil's horns.

"Stel, you're super good!" Christian said with pride. He looked down and realized he and Luna were still holding one another. He quickly let go, blushing from the contact and making Luna laugh in the process.

"Yeah!" Leni piped up, giving a small 'woo!' in the process. "That was totes too cool!" Stella blushed at the approval, a bashful smile appearing on her face. She gave a little bow.

"Aw geez, thank you guys!"

Sam, having noticed her and Christian dancing, pulled Luna to the side and leaned into her ear. "So, is he my replacement?" Luna blushed and punched her in the arm.

"You wish, dude!" The two laughed, but the thought kinda lingered in Luna's head for a bit. She had been hanging out a ton with Christian, but it wasn't that kind of hanging out...was it?

"Anyways dudes, I think we should split: we gotta hit some other clubs for Chris." George and Sam looked saddened by this.

"Alright dudes. But hey, you guys are welcome to come in any time! Wednesday's and sometimes outside of school, alright?" Sam explained. Christian smiled at the invitation.

"Sounds like a plan, man!" Stella walked over to Sam and handed back the trumpet.

"Thank you again for letting me borrow this." She politely thanked the blonde rocker.

"Not a problem, dude!" She and George waved as the group left the room. "Later dudes!" George and Sam called out.

"Bye!" Leni and Stella said at the same time, causing Stella to smile a little.

The door closed behind them and Christian sighed with a smile. "I feel really good about this whole club thing now!"

"Nice, bro!" Luna said as they bumped fists.

"What, no dude this time?" Christian asked with a smirk.

"I can't say it _all_ the time, dude." Luna replied. "It'd wear out!" Stella and Leni both giggled at their banter.

Christian blushed a little. "Anyways, Stel: is their a photography club or something like that?"

"Hm? Oh yeah!" Stella gave a smile, "Wanna give it a try? I'll let you guys in the _dark room_ ~" Stella said as if that would entice them.

"Oooh, a dark room!" Christian said excitedly. "My old school had one of those, but I never actually went in it..." Christian said with a hint of sadness.

"Well then that's our first stop! It's got a cool door that you can go in~" Stella said with an excited grin, clasping her hands together, "It's upstairs, let's go!"

The group headed up the stairs and down the hall. They took a turn down the west wing of the hall and came to stop at a door. The door was shaped like a cylinder, but there was an opening in it. "Allow me to show you how to use it." Stella said and stepped in the opening. She grabbed a bar on the inside of the door, and began to turn it, the opening seeming to close as Stella went out of sight.

"Oh no, the door ate her!" Leni gasped, frowning at the sight of Stella being eaten alive.

"No no, Leni, it's okay! I'm still here," Stella said with a little laugh, "I'm just in the room now!" Stella turned the door so the opening was there once more and they could follow her inside.

Whoa." Christian remarked.

"Wicked." Luna said with a grin. They shuffled into the room through the opening.

Leni frowned, still not understanding the door, "Guys? Where'd you go?"

"Stel, you should help her get in here." Christian pointed out. Stella nodded, stepping back into the cylinder. She turned the door to reveal Leni on the other side. Leni gasped.

"You're back!" Stella gave a small smile, not wanting to correct her.

"Come with me." Stella nervously put her hand out for Leni to take, she shook a little.  
Leni looked from Stella, to Stella's hand and back to Stella. She smiled and took it gratefully and stepped into the cylinder.

Stella blushed and quickly turned the door around, hoping the darkness would hide her burning face. She had never been this close to Leni before. Heck she'd even held her hand Her heart was thumping wildly from excitement. The door turned to the other side and Stella and Leni walked into the _very_ dimly lit dark room.

"If Luan was here, she'd have cracked a bad pun already." Luna pointed out, grateful her punny sibling hadn't showed up after school.

"Good thing she's not though because her puns are _lit_...;lit, get it because- it's like- we-we're in a dark room..." Leni actually giggled at this.

"Goddamnit, Stel." Luna groaned, causing Christian to laugh.

Stella laughed a little with Leni and Christian, "I had to, c'mon don't leave me in the _dark_ ~" Stella laughed a little again.

"Okay I'm done, get me out of here!" Luna cried out. She reached around for the handle to the door and grabbed something fleshy.

"Luna, that's my ass!" Christian squeaked out. Luna could feel her face burn up and suddenly felt extremely grateful the room was so dark.

"Woops, sorry bro! At least I can say you have a nice ass!" Christian felt his face burn up like a thermite grenade from CS:GO. Leni and Stella simply burst out into loud, obnoxious laughter.

"I, uh, I think I've seen enough Stel: I'll join as long as I'm not frequently groped in here." Christian said with embarrassment in his voice.

"Glad to have you on the team!" She said with a hint of a giggle still in her voice.

"Now like, how do we get out?" Leni questioned.

"Um, y-you can just follow me." Stella said.

"Okay!" Leni said, immediately grabbing for Stella's hand.

Stella blushed, "R-Right."

Once out of the dark room, Christian placed his hands on his head and sighed contently. "I think that's enough clubs for one lifetime: thank you guys for helping me out!"

"Aw, dude!" Luna wrapped him in a hug. "It ain't no thing!" Christian returned the hug tightly, grateful that he had the one in a million chance to meet these people.

"Yeah dude, its no problem! I'm just glad I could help!" Stella smiled, unaware that she and Leni were still holding hands. Christian warmly smiled at his non-Loud best friend.

"I think Luna and I gonna head back to the band room, you two are more then welcome to join us!" Stella and Leni shared a look, both then nodding simultaneously. Stella smiled to herself when she realized Leni _still_ hadn't let go.

"Lead the way guys!" Leni smiled.

Meanwhile on the school stage, Luan was hidden amongst the props, waiting for the group to come looking for her. It wasn't anything to bad: Christian would come here with the group to look for her after she hadn't arrived and he'd fall for some simple pranks she had set up: a bucket of water on the entrance doors, woopie cushions on the seats, nothing too bad.

It'd help orientate him with her lifestyle and the club, and if he liked it she'd be more than willing to teach him her ways.

But he hadn't come yet. She looked at the clock on the wall, which read 4:14. She'd have to leave soon. But the prank! Suddenly, the door opened and a flood of water was heard rushing down. She sprang up like a rocket.

"Ha ha, gotcha Chr-" She stopped talking as she could see one of the school custodians, drenched in water and looking peeved.

"...dangit."


	18. Cooking By The Book

" **Christiaaaan!"**

Christian yelped as he jolted up from his bed and spun his head towards his caller.

"-ou said not today, Ly-!" His eyes immediately registered the bright pink and he froze.

"Please, I'd die if ever I had to wear a jockstrap!" Lola retorted. Christian felt his muscles ease as he sighed a breath of relief. It wasn't Lynn, thankfully, he was too tired for that.

"Oh, hi Lola...did you really have to yell like that?"

"I tried to wake you up nicely, but you just wouldn't wake up! Besides, I need your help with something!" Christian slowly began to knead his face as his body acclimated to being awake.

"Thankfully I'm getting used to not waking up normally anymore…" he clasped his hands together with a light clap and braced himself. He was gonna need a nap after this. "Alrighty, what do you need?"

"I'm hosting a tea party and I need _you_ to bake the cookies!" Lola said with a devilishly cute smile. Christian stared at the princess again before rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Was that really worth screaming at me over?" At least he didn't have to work out, right?

"Are you baking the cookies or not?" Lola asked with irritation in her voice.

"Yeah yeah, just lemme get dressed first."

The oven dutifully beeped that it was done pre-heating. Christian steeled himself as he put on his oven mitts and grabbed the tray full of unbaked cookies. He took a breath and opened the oven with one hand. He brought it down as far as possible, and carefully began to put in the cookie sheet.

"Don't burn yourself, don't burn yourself, don't burn yourself…" he ritualistically repeated to himself. It reached a point in the oven he deemed acceptable and suddenly tossed it in the rest of the way. Before the tray clattered with the rack his hand was already out of the oven and his mitts were coming off.

"Ha hahaaa!" Christian cheered as he turned towards the dining room and saw Lola giving him a half confused and half judging look.

"What was _that_?" She asked.

The victory in Christian's face subsided as he sheepishly chuckled.

"What? I burned myself once with an oven, I'm just glad I-ok, whatever." Christian threw down the mitts onto the oven and quickly shuffled past Lola into the living room to wait.

"Don't burn yourself, don't burn yourself, don't burn yourself…" Christian cautiously repeated as he reached into the oven, the heat and pure cookie smell smacking him in the face. Through the mitts he grabbed the tray's handle and and slowly but surely slid it out. Christian grabbed the other handle and lifted up the tray. He gently placed the cookies onto the oven's top and kicked up the door. He chuckled giddily as he removed his mitts and wiped away the sweat on his brow.

"Didn't burn myself!" Christian said as he clapped his hands together. The cookies looked magnificent: golden brown, dotted with specks of chocolate decorating the 30-ish cookies. Without thinking he reached for one, only to quickly pull back his hand.

"Gah, burned myself!" Christian flicked his hand around for relief before dashing into the sink and instantly turning it on. He stuck his hand in the water and sighed in relief.

"Ooh, the cookies are done!" Lola exclaimed from behind Christian.

"They're super hot, give them a second."

"Of course! I'm not just gonna touch something that just came out of the oven, who would even do that?" Christian recoiled from the punch to the gut, slowly turning to face the little girl. When their eyes met, Lola's skeptical eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yeah, lemme just get the cookies onto a plate." Christian hoarsely muttered as he grabbed a spatula and plate and walked over to the cookies again. He scooped up the cookies and gently slid them into the plate. Within a minute he was done, and he leaned down and present the cookies to the little princess.

"These should be perfect for the tea party!" Christian's shrugged and grinned.

"What can I say, I'm good at following instructions." Lola perked up at the end of his statement with a light gasp, before a cute smile formed on her face and she looked up at Christian with puppy eyes.

"Chrissy, do you mind helping be with something else too?" Christian opened his mouth, but all that came out was a resigned sigh.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Why did I have to open my mouth?" Christian moaned as he stood at the side of Princess Lola in the _butler's uniform she had Leni make mere minutes before_. How that was even physically possible was beyond him, but that really didn't matter at the moment, did it?

"Hush butler, I didn't pick you off the street to complain. Now, please retrieve a fresh pot of tea from the royal kitchen, please!" Christian glared at the child before uttering a guttural huff.

"I came from your backyard actually, but whatever. Yes, _your majesty_." He bowed before his liege and left the room, heated like a freshly baked cookie. He was gonna have to cook up a way to avoid this at all costs, wasn't he?

(Author's Note: I'm legitimately sorry these are coming out so late. I've just found it so hard to sit down and write nowadays, but I did it! I'm hoping I can keep doing better even though I've said that before so ehhhhhhh who knows. Thank you all for supporting me and my writing regardless!)


	19. One Flu Over One Loud

Luna casually leaned onto the kitchen counter as she carefully sipped her morning coffee. After a particularly soothing gulp, she sighed contently. She put the mug down and stretched, her body still adjusting to being awake. Ever since Christian had been rising from the basement every morning, she had made it a point to greet him. Not like he was particularly talkative in the morning (his energetic first day of school seemed to have been more of a once in a lifetime gig), but she could tell from the faint, tired smile that he enjoyed the company.

Speaking of the devil, she could hear him walking up the stairs. And then she saw him turn the corner, and she could instantly tell something was off. His nose was slightly red and his eyes were a little runny, and he looked more pale than he already was.

"Achoo!" He suddenly sneezed into his arm, a soft sniffle following. He looked up at Luna and faintly smiled.

"Morning." His slightly gravelly voice croaked. Luna walked over with a concerned look on her face.

"You sound out of tune. You good, dude?" Christian shrugged.

"Just a cold. Something to do with the change of the seasons I think." He paused. "Or allergies. What would I even be allergic to?" He pondered to himself as he walked over to the fridge. He scanned the packed rectangle.

"Whatcha looking for?"

"Orange juice, it's got Vitamin C. Should help with the cold." Christian sighed as he closed the fridge. "Which there is none of. It's cool, I'll just deal with it the old fashioned way."

"This isn't gonna affect your lessons too much, is it?" Luna asked. "I'm pumped to start your lessons at the school of rock!"

"Nah, I should be good."

Christian's head had met the table as soon as he had sat down at the table. His muffled cough erupted from the table followed by a wet sniffle, then a moan. He raised his head and rubbed his face, grateful for the fact he was still conscious.

Stella looked up from her notes and doodles of 'Leni+Stella 4ever' at the horrible sound her friend was making. She worriedly looked over at her friend.

"Jesus dude, you look like death." She commented, patting his back.

Christian made a half-hearted "hmm" sound and rested his head on his hand.

"Nah it's just a cold, I'm good." He reassured, barely sounding convinced himself. She gave him a suspicious look.

"You sure? Maybe I can walk you down to the nurse..." Stella crossed her arms, the worried look on her face growing.

Christian sighed as he folded his arms onto the table and buried his head in them. It was an extremely tempting offer given the circumstances. Honestly, it was probably the best thing to do given the circumstances. But something held him off from saying yes. He sighed and raised his head again.

"I mean, maybe if it gets worse. I don't want to miss school too much, and I'm already way through the day." He faintly smiled. "Thank you, though."

Stella frowned a bit but nodded.

"No problem duder, just tell me if you feel any worse? I'll get you to the nurse right quick!"

"I'll keep it in mind." He couldn't ignore the growing sinking feeling in his gut after denying Stella's help, but like the cold he was just gonna ignore it.

Christian collapsed onto the couch and moaned into the cushions. His body was practically moaning with him, the energy having completely evaporated by school day's end. It didn't help that he couldn't really breathe through his nose anymore, either. Which was good, considering he was almost certain he would've smelled a Lynn fart on it.

"Christian, are you alright?" A young male voice said. Christian raised his head and saw Lincoln standing over him, concern in his eyes.

"Uuuuuhh." Was all that Christian managed to emit. Lincoln's eyes went from worried to fear filled.

"Oh gosh, not another zombie outbreak!"

"That was a fever dream, bro." Luna corrected her white haired brother from behind them.

"Wait, what?" The white haired boy asked, shocked.

 _Luna knocked on the door of Lincoln's room and opened it, carrying a tray with soup and a spoon on it._

" _Hey little dude, I got you some eats!" She announced to her little brother. Lincoln stirred from his slumber, making a wet snorting noise and hoarsely moaned._

" _Are we not zombies anymore?" He quietly asked. Luna stared at him for a second before slowly edging towards him._

" _Zombies, bro?" She apprehensively asked. Lincoln slowly nodded._

" _Y-yeah, Lisa made the chicken noodle soup guns and we tried to fend off all our sick sisters. But we all got infected in the end. Wasn't Clyde taking care of us?"_

 _Luna stopped for a second, her thoughts trying to dissect the sheer ludicrousy of what her brother just said. Soup guns? Zombie sisters?_

" _Uhhhh, sure dude. Here's your soup." Luna gently placed the tray onto Lincoln's lap. She began to lean in to kiss his forehead before she reigned in her sisterly instincts._

" _Thank yoooou." Lincoln weakly moaned. Luna gave him a reassuring smile and walked out of the room, the door quietly clicking shut. Luna slowly began to walk to her and Luan's room when she made a detour all the way across the hall and into the bathroom. She lathered up her hands with as much soap as possible and scrubbed and washed as long as it took to convince her she wouldn't have zombie dreams._

"Oh." Lincoln replied, unsure how he felt about that knowing that whole situation never happened. "Well, Christian's sick and we nee-wait, did I also hallucinate Clyde in the hazmat suit?"

"Actually, he did come over with that thing to help you. Cuz I love you more than life lil' bro, but after that I was _not_ touching you!"

"What!? You know I'd still help you even if you were that sick!"

"You were shooting people with soup in your head, man! I didn't want to deal with anything like that!"

"You also shot people with soup until you got reckless and became infected!"

"Excuse me? I am _way_ too cool to get zombified!" A snicker came from the couch, and the arguing siblings looked back at the sick teen.

"Too cool to get zombified," Christian giggled out, "I can believe it." He entered a soft giggle fit, his lungs too tired to full-on laugh at the statement. "You people are wild, man." Luna smiled at the compliment and kneeled down in front of the couch. She placed a hand on his forehead and her eyes widened.

"Dude, it's feels like heaven's on fire!" Luna exclaimed. "Stay here Linc, I'm gonna grab Mom."

The thermometer beeped in Christian's ear before Rita took it out and looked at the reading.

"Yep, that's a high fever. You sir are staying in bed for the rest of the day." Christian seemed to wince at the last sentence. He sighed and got up from the couch.

"Alright." He quietly, sadly said.

Admittedly, it wasn't so bad laying in his bed, in warm pajamas, bundled up and snug in his bed. He couldn't really move too much, but that really wasn't a problem. He couldn't move, his body sapped of energy, and he didn't really want to move anyways. At least, not anymore.

He heard footsteps come down the stairs, and suddenly Luan was above him carrying a tray with a soup, the end of a loaf of bread, and a cup of water.

"What's soup! Hahahaha! Get it?"

"Haaaaaaaaa." Christian groaned. "That was kinda funny, not gonna lie."

"Well good, cause I know you're sick of these puns! Haha!" Christian snorted and chuckled.

"Not all of your puns are bad, just poorly timed." Christian ceded. He wasn't a big fan, but he didn't hate _all_ puns. Just the soul killing ones.

"What's not poorly thymed is this soup, Dad made it himself!" She gently placed the tray onto Christian's lap. He looked down at the delicious looking brew and grinned. Chicken noodle soup hadn't looked this good in a long time. Or should he say, _thyme_.

"Soup's on, baby." He grabbed a spoon, dunked it in, brought it to his lips and sipped enough to not get burned.

"By the way, Lola said that you were 'excused from your royal duties due to your illness,' Lynn said that 'you're weak but she understands you can't fight through your illness'. Also Lisa wants tissue samples." She snorted. "Get it?" Christian didn't laugh, but exhaled heavily through the nose once.

"Yeah, but why didn't they come down and tell me themselves?" 

"Because of what happened to Lincoln that one time, everyone is pretty wary about that now. But I'm snot like that. Hahaha!"

"Oh god." Christian put his hands to his face, mostly to hide the growing smile from showing itself. "Thank you for the soup, but you should leave before I infect you."

"Will do, get well soon!" Luan gave a little wave and headed up the stairs, replaced Lincoln and Luna going the opposite way. Lincoln sat down in Christian's desk chair and Luna sat down at the end of his bed.

"Hey dude, you feeling any better?" Luna asked.

"A little bit, yeah." Christian smiled. "Kinda loving all the attention I'm getting."

"Well that's good," Lincoln said, "because you _need_ to get better! Lola and Lynn have been a little more occupied with you lately, and that gives me a little more breathing room!" Christian was a little shocked by that, but then he remembered how much the white haired boy seemed to _always_ be doing something. Always a sister who needed something, always a brother to take care of them.

He wasn't sure what that was making him feel, but it felt familiar.

Luna quickly laughed at Lincoln's predicament.

"You've been slacking bro. Christian was the opening act, now's your time to perform!"

" **Linky! This princess needs her Honor Guard!"** Lincoln sighed as he got up from the chair and ran upstairs, much to the amusement and laughter of the two teens. Luna's smile faded as she turned to Christian.

"Chris?"

Christian was caught off guard, having been mid-bite of his piece of bread. He pulled his head away and ripped a chunk of bread and began to chew.

"What's up?"

"Were you lying when you said you were fine this morning? That it was just a cold?" Christian froze, not expecting such a direct question at that moment. But in the time he knew her, Luna wasn't one for subtlety. He swallowed the piece of bread, partially chewed and irritating his throat during it's descent.

"I, uh…" He quietly muttered. "I mean, maybe a little bit? I genuinely didn't think it'd get that bad." He looked in Luna's eyes, and he saw concern with a pinch of something else. Disappointment? His eyes shifted to his soup.

"I believe you, but, why would you push yourself so hard? Stella told me how bad you got. Why didn't you go to the nurse?" Christian looked back up to meet her eyes, and then he realized that there wasn't actually disappointment in her eyes.

"...I didn't want to start missing things all of a sudden. I started school again, and I haven't been to a band thing. There's that other person I missed aside from Sam and George. What's her name, Ruth?"

"Yeah, Ruth. But dude, if you're not well, it's cool if you gotta take a break. You can't just _force_ a show!" Luna reassured with a hand placed on Christian's head. The skin tingled a little bit under the blanket, but it did imbue him with a sense of calm. He sighed again.

"When I was younger, around Lucy's age I _really_ didn't want to go to school. So I told my mom I didn't feel so good. And because she's an angel, she let me stay home. But then I did it again. And again. And I skipped almost a week of school before she caught on and forced me to go to school again. Ever since then, anytime I tried to get out of doing anything, regardless of circumstance, I just feel super guilty. So I just do things, even if I absolutely don't want to, likes staying at school and not letting my friend take me to the nurse."

"Aw, dude!" Luna said as she moved up and wrapped her arms around Christian's torso. He stiffened, but then she felt his arms lock behind her back. "You were a little kid at the time, little kids do dumb things all the time. Like Lincoln!" Christian let out a sickly wheeze and a chuckle.

"Geez dude, way to throw your little brother under that bus!" Luna giggled.

"I'm just joshing you, brah! We _all_ slip up time from time. But don't let yourself feel guilty about it all the time, alright?" Christian huffed loudly.

"Whatever you say, _Mom._ " The two teens erupted into laughter, Christian's hoarse and quiet and Luna's lively and loud. They broke the hug and Luna gave him a reassuring smile.

"Get some rest, alright dude? We'll get you those lessons asap!" Christian warmly smiled back.

"Will do, love."

"Hey, that's my line!"


	20. Nerds

"Pretty impressive, right?" Lincoln said as he presented a tower of plastic wrapped, crisply colored comic books. Christian couldn't help but feel rather intimidated: less because the size of the tower almost matched his height, but because if he accidently tipped it over he didn't know how bad the damage would be. But at the same time, he was super impressed with the collection. No wonder Lincoln seemed so excited when he asked Christian to come up to his room.

"Actually, yeah, that's pretty cool!" Christian replied, Lincoln's eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree. The kid had passion!

"And the best part is that's not even _half_ of the collection!"

"You're kidding?" Lincoln proudly shook his head.

"The rest of it is at my friend Clyde's for the moment, but I figured this would be enough for an example." He hopped onto his bed and reached up to the top of the stack. Christian moved closer to Lincoln just in-case. Thankfully, nothing happened (for once) and Lincoln slid a comic from the collection and presented it to Christian.

Christian graciously and gently took the comic. There wasn't anything particularly distinguishing about it to him. The only big thing he noticed was the title.

"Ace Savvy?" He asked. Lincoln let out a sharp gasp and looked physically hurt by the question.

"You don't have Ace Savvy where you're from!?" Lincoln despairingly asked.

"I don't know, I just don't recognize the name! Besides, it could technically exist back home, but there's so many comics it'd make sense if I never noticed it." Christian explained. Lincoln's expression eased at the answer, but he still looked a little upset.

"That makes sense," Lincoln conceded, "but it still sucks you haven't ever read Ace Savvy before. Wait, do you even read comic books?" Christian hesitated, but eventually shrugged and shook his head.

"No, not really. I had some Spiderman comics _way_ back when, but I ended up reading just regular books for the most part."

"Oh, I see." Lincoln quietly said, looking a little disappointed. It took a second, but Christian connected the suddenly being dragged here to the comic exhibition. He looked down at the comic, then back at Lincoln. It warmed his heart to see how much Lincoln cared!

"But I don't see any reason I can't get into them now." Christian said with a smile. Lincoln let out and excited sharp gasp and suddenly hugged Christian. Christian froze up, but quickly reciprocated.

"Thank you! Finally, someone at home to talk about Ace Savvy about! Not like there was anything wrong with only having Clyde, mind you."

"Aw, don't mention it, dude! I kinda owe all of you for letting me live here and all." Christian sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "I'm guessing you like video games too, right?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" Lincoln coolly remarked.

"I don't like making assumptions is all." Christian said. "And don't recognize the console you use."

"You don't have those, either?" Lincoln asked with the same worry as before

"We have the PS4, Xbox 1, and the Switch. And PC's, but that's a given."

"We have those, too! Mom and Dad just don't feel like forking over the extra money for one of them, though. Although I've been working on that and almost have them sold on the idea."

"So instead of an actual console, you got the one that lets you play that...that one thing...Hustle Fish?" Christian asked with a bit of skepticism.

"Muscle Fish!" Lincoln defensively corrected. "And he's a great character with a great game!" Christian responded by squinting his eyes. Lincoln met this by squinting his eyes back, and the two clashed gazes for a moment.

"How good are you at fighting games?" Lincoln asked.

"I'd woop you in Tekken with Heihachi, but that's a 3D fighting game. Doesn't mean I won't beat you if we get rid of a dimension." Christian said pridefully.

"You're on!"

When they got downstairs, the luckily the TV was unoccupied. Christian jumped onto the couch and Lincoln ran to the console to turn it on. He ran back to the couch with two controllers in hand and tossed one to Christian.

The console started up and read the game instantly. The names of companies Christian wouldn't have been able to recognize flew by before the title of the game appeared on the screen. He could barely process the image before Lincoln instantly pressed start, navigated the menus and went into the 1 vs 1 mode.

"Pick any character, you don't stand a chance." Lincoln smugly boasted before selecting the titular character. Christian gauged the appearances of all the bizarre looking fish things. Honestly, the game looked liked it could've been some obscure fighter from the 80s if the graphics weren't so good.

It was then that a weird sort of reminiscence pinged and resonated throughout his core. He transported himself back to home before dad left. They used to play Mortal Kombat and Tekken and all sorts of games they could get their hands on together. Despite being so young, they were actually pretty evenly matched. He experienced the rush of selecting a character, pitting himself against his dad and getting tangled up in a seemingly endless amount of rematches.

He didn't expect to be feeling this much nostalgia so far away from home, but he appreciated every second of it.

He really couldn't tell anything from the character portraits about their abilities, so he shrugged his shoulders and chose the nicest looking fish thing: Bespectacled Cephalopod, who was a red octopus with a monocle, old timey moustache, and buck teeth. He looked really stupid, but it was a charming kind of stupid.

"B.C is pretty good, but it takes time to get used to him." Lincoln warned. "And you're not gonna have enough time while I'm utterly annihilating you." He shot Christian a smug smirk as the stage began to load in. Christian smirked back.

"Sure kid."

 **PLAYER 1 WINS!**

"Yes!" Lincoln cheered as he launched into the air and threw up his arms. Christian sighed as he reclined back into the couch. Lincoln wasn't lying when he said he'd utterly annihilate him. He didn't have to be so obnoxious about it though…

"Yeah yeah, good job." Christian conceded as he put the controller down and got up from the couch. Lincoln looked at the teen as he left for the dining room in confusion.

"Wait, are you done already?' Christian looked back on him and grinned.

"Nah, I'm just gonna grab some drinks before I figure you out and _destroy you_." Lincoln was shocked by Christian's sudden confidence (or bravado), but inwardly felt giddy at the slight menace in the last few words. The only other person who got that invested would be Lori, but she was a closeted nerd and didn't game with him too often. But now, that might not be much of a problem anymore.

"Bespectacled Cephalopod, please!"

"He can't save you now!"

Random and confusing cries such as these lured Luna down from her room and into the living room. To her surprise, the only people downstairs were Lori, Lincoln and Christian.

"The two nerds are going at it on Muscle Fish." Lori said, who was paying more attention to the television screen than her phone. "They're playing for three out of five games, but both are tied and it's _close._ Christian's trying to out range Linc but he's clearly a beginner level. If Lincoln wasn't overly confident, he might've just crushed him outright." The amount of investment Lori had stocked in this fight would've seemed uncanny if it weren't for Luna remembering how invested in video games used to be. And she called _them_ nerds.

Luna looked at the screen and noticed the two bars on the top of either side of the screen were almost completely red. The two characters on-screen were constantly shifting back and forward, daring the other to commit.

"What're you gonna do, Linc? What're gonna do?" Christian playfully goaded his opponent. Bespectacled Cephalopod suddenly threw out a bubble attack towards Muscle Fish and dashed forward. Muscle Fish ducked under the bubble then lunged forward from the crouching position. Cephalopod tried to jump over him, but Muscle Fish's head connected with Cephalopod's tentacles, driving the right health bar completely red.

 **PLAYER 1 WINS!**

Both of the boys were screaming, caught up in the heated hype of the moment. Christian collapsed onto the couch, going limp and shutting his eyes as Lincoln leapt up and crashed into the couch, whooping and hollering. Lori grabbed a pillow and was crushing it in a bear hug. Luna sat there, wanting to join the party but unable to actually invest herself so far in.

"Get wrecked! Get wreeeecked!" He cheered as he leaned into Christian's unresponsive face. When he felt something splash onto his face was when Christian came back to life.

"Alright alright," Christian calmed as he pushed the younger boy back. "Ya got me, dude, no need to get _that_ riled up." The two boys laughed off the intensity of the virtual war that was just waged. Lori hung her head and shook her head.

"You're literally such an amateur, Christian." Christian responded by shrugging his shoulders.

"Eh, what am I going to do?"

"Well," Lori said while hopping over the couch, "You can start by handing me that controller so I can show you how it's done. _Literally._ " She snatched up the controller, selected her character, and the next battle commenced, followed by furious button tapping and hyped screams and shouts.

It was at that moment that Luna came to the familiar realization that the people she loved were a bunch of nerds. And it was adorable.

(Author's Note- Sup guys! It's Pixel again! Wanna shout out lttlgreg for continued feedback over the course of this fic- thank you so much! And not just him, anyone who's still reading!

Some may have noticed that I removed a chapter a while ago called "Writer's Block". The reason this was done was because I felt there wasn't enough there as a chapter that warranted it's existence. I might return to the concept later, but for now it's not well done enough for you guys and you don't deserve that. I am also considering consolidating and reviewing certain chapter so that it's more presentable and better for everyone who reads my work.

I also edited Nash's name from a few chapters back. The reason I did this was due to Sketch-Toons naming him that and I liked his art so much I wanted to change it in my fic :v not even lying about that.

Thank you all for your continued support, love you all! -PixelCat)


	21. I Wanna Rock N' Roll

"George, make sure you don't launch Christian across the room when he comes in this time, please?" Sam teased her band mate with a light punch to his shoulder.

"Yeah George, taking out the new guy before I get a chance to meet him is a jerk move, dude!" Ruth, whose absence from the club during Luna's friends went unfortunately overlooked given the circumstances, also punched George's shoulder. Despite the cool leather of his jacket mostly absorbing the blows, he still rubbed his shoulders as he chuckled.

"Alright, alright, I won't jack up a hair on his head!" George said while jokingly throwing his other hand up defensively. The three were sitting around the band room, waiting for Christian and Luna to show.

Sam had been pretty pumped ever since Luna declared him her "apprentice" and that the whole gang was going to be showing him the ropes. She remembered when she first started getting into rock in middle school. The feeling of nirvana when she first performed Nirvana was something she'd love to spark in someone else. Christian seemed pretty chill, and with Luna vouching for him, she had a feeling this was gonna be super rad for everyone. Still, she was prepared in case he turned into a total punk like the one edgelord they let hang with them awhile ago.

She shuddered at the thought of him, and promptly forced the memory back into the water until it stopped struggling.

The door suddenly swung open, and Luna swaggered into the room with her apprentice. When Christian checked both sides of the door before fully entering the room, Sam couldn't help but snicker. Poor dude got wrecked last time, so there was no blaming him. But his body maintained its stiffness as the two approached, which in turn made Sam mildly concerned. He wasn't uncomfortable, was he?

"Ruth, bro, what was the holdup last time?" Luna asked as the two bumped fists.

"I was sick, dude! And not in the good way!" Everyone cracked up, and Sam noticed Christian seemed to allow his body to slack. "But what is sick in the good way is I finally get to meet Mr. Christian!" Ruth said while extending a fist towards him.

"And it's pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Ruth." He greeted as he bumped fists with her with an sudden burst of electric drive in his fist.

"Nice to see ya' have the proper manners, mate," Luna commented, "I was worried I'd have to right school ya'!"

"I mean, you already have me in the school of rock, and I'm trying not to die in regular school, so I'd actually appreciate it if you didn't do that." Luna shrugged.

"Fair 'nuff, mate." Sam suddenly clapped her hands together, drawing the attention of the group.

"Ground control to Major Toms, we got a job to do." She looked over to Christian, and placed a hand onto his shoulder. He momentarily stiffened, but eased after a moment. "First things first, we gotta figure out what _you_ want to do with a guitar."

"What do you mean?" Christian asked, eyes darting from Sam to Luna, back to Sam. Luna also put a hand onto his other shoulder.

"There's more than just way to play, bro: you've heard me use different techniques with my jams, remember?" Christian replayed the _many_ performances he had witnessed in his head. There were plenty of songs that he had submerged and soaked in, but he never really _thought_ about the. But he did notice that while there was a general sound all the songs had, but there was always something different to all of them he didn't possess the know-how for.

"Uh, give me some examples?" He unsuredly asked. George suddenly leapt to the front of the group, a lilac guitar strapped to his body.

"You wanna go for some shredding?" He comically stuck his tongue out, raised his arm and brought his hand down from orbit. An electronic banshee wailed before more higher pitched shrieks followed. George's upper hand constantly moving back and forth along the neck of his guitar at breakneck speed. He suddenly stopped, produced a comb from his jacket's pockets, and ran it through his hair. "Y'know, something like that."

"Duuude!" The rockers simultaneously emitted, while Christian was left silently nodding his head in awe. How did he…?

"I know, that's why they call me 'The Cheese Grater', cuz I shred like-"

"Oh my god dude," Ruth interrupted, "literally no one calls you that. You just made that up and it's _grody_." The rest of the group cracked up while crimson was smeared over George's face. "Are you making that up to impress the newbie or something?"

"Dude's already out of his element, I don't think you need to work so hard!" Sam pointed out before resuming her chuckling fit. She couldn't believe he _actually_ said that!

"Besides," Luna chimed in, "he's already listening to me on the daily, so anything else is kinda just 'meh' to him."

"And you're saying _I'm_ the one trying to impress the newbie! You're the dude giving him personal shows!" Luna's cheeks mimicked George's, and sensing an incoming hail storm, she inserted herself in-between the two.

"Settle down guys, let's not start a riot!" Her mask of responsibility cracked slightly with a crease at the corner of her mouth. "Moving on! Christian, how you feel about Cheese Grating?"

"I think I'd like to know _how_ , but the type of rock I've enjoyed was less...shreddy, if that makes any sense?"

"Nah, we get you dude." Ruth reaffirmed. "So, you thinking maybe you wanna shoot for a more chill tempo?" Christian eyes twinkled when Ruth practically psychically formed the loose words in his head.

"Yeah, actually! I like chill stuff!" He exclaimed. It was true, he loved to chill! The rockers looked at each other excitedly, the mission now having a clear objective.

"Rad, dude!" Sam said. "Now, what's your experience with instruments?" Christian seemed to silently choke on something as he blushed and coughed into his sleeve.

"I don't know, I mean...I played the recorder in elementary school?" He said almost apologetically. Sam noticed that he reverted back kneading his neck like he was a baker. Was he just unsure of himself? Why? Looks like they were gonna have to rock that out of his soul!

"Don't sweat it dude, I don't think any of us knew how to play any real instruments before we got into rock." Ruth admitted.

"Except for me, I'm just a god of music like that, unlike these blokes." Luna said with a snooty British accent, and was met with the simultaneous onslaught of shoulder punches from the rockers.

"Don't brag, bro!" Sam scolded playfully. Luna took a step back, giggling and rubbing both of her shoulders.

"All right, all right! I was just joshing you guys!" Something told Sam that on some level she wasn't kidding given what she knew of her ex-girlfriends wide field of instruments. But not in a mean way, never in a mean way with Luna. It just had a way of coming out the wrong way sometimes. She looked at Christian, and almost laughed upon seeing he had stopped rubbing his neck, which was now a tad reddened. There wasn't any real tension in his body though, which was great!

"So, how do you feel about starting off with an acoustic guitar, Chris?" George asked. "It'll be a bit tougher in the beginning, but it'll get your fingers more used to playing guitars a bit quicker." Christian put a hand to his chin and put George's words on a scale. What did he want to do: head straight to electric and probably be rancid? Or did he want to skip to accoustic, be even worse but possibly get better faster?

He shifted his eyes to Luna's, who shrugged and gave a aloof grin. She really was just a super mellow, confident dude who's only crime seemed to be a little obsessive about her hobbies. And here she was, telling him with a smile that every little thing was gonna be alright with a mere grin. In that moment, he wished he could borrow some of that attitude and stick it over his brain.

"I mean, I'll give it a shot?" He said with a shrug and a semi optimistic grin. He honestly had no idea how this was gonna play out, but for Luna and himself he was gonna give it everything he had!

"Rad! And I have plenty of acoustic guitars for you to jam with!" Luna said with hand on her hips and pride in her smile. Everyone in the room immediately turned to her with half confused, half concerned expressions.

"Why do you need more than one acoustic guitar?' Ruth asked.

"Because if I need to smash one, I know I'm covered, duh." Luna said as if everyone had spare guitars lying around. Luna suddenly noticed the looks she was getting and raised an eyebrow. "Dudes, what gives?"

(Author's Note: Ay guys, Pixel here! Just wanted to thank you as per usual for sticking with this fic, words can't describe how grateful I am of all of you! I got a nasty anon review and a not-so-nasty feedback from a friend of mine, so I've decided that the next fic is, funnily enough, gonna be more Christian focused! I guess my lack of formally writing fics before all of this is kinda making the fic scattered a bit, so I'm sorry if it's at all an issue: hopefully I can only improve from here!- PixelCat)


	22. Mo-Rita

Baby? Check. Grocery list? Check. Purse? Check. Vanzilla key's? Also check.

That should be everything that Rita needed to go to the grocery store, but she double checked _just_ in case. You'd be surprised what you could forget when your mind is at at least 14 places at any given moment. Although, the fact that any lesser woman would've cracked like fine china in these conditions filled her with a smug sense of elitism.

"Any last minute orders before I head out?" Rita asked her husband, who was washing his hands in the kitchen sink. He immediately shook his head.

"I'm all set for dinner tonight, and everything's on the shopping list already." Lynn Sr. while he twisted the sink off. He strutted over with a cheeky grin to his wife and child and planted a firm kiss on Rita's lips. "But make sure you stay safe, alright?" Rita giggled and blushed, such acts of cheesy sincerity and concern not often occurring between them. Or at least, not as often as it should. She playfully pushed his face away from her own.

"Lynn, you know I'll be alright! I practically raised this family on my own, you know!" Any suave in Lynn Sr.'s face was swapped with a look of exaggerated offense.

"Hey! Where would you even be right now without me?"

"Somewhere I don't even want to think about." Rita said with a less playful tone in her voice. "I don't need an "It's A Wonderful Life" situation in my home." Lynn Sr.'s heard tumbled a little at the tone in her voice."

"Honey, I didn't mea-"

"It's fine, Lynn! I just hate cliches is all." Rita reassured with a smirk . "Don't be afraid to make it up to me, though."

"Will do, honey! How about I make your favorite dinner?"

"You mean you'll order a pizza?"

"Hey!" Rita burst out laughing while Lynn Sr. tried to freeze his face with anger, but a crack formed at the corner of his mouth. The mask crumbled as he burst out laughing with his wife. Even the baby joined in, despite having no idea what she was laughing about. It died down, and husband and wife shared a look they always gave each other when just _clicked_ together.

"See you in an hour or two." Rita said warmly

"We'll be waiting for you."

As Rita and Lily were about to step outside, something made Rita pause. She didn't know what it was, and after being sure she had everything, it was messing with her head . Did she actually forget something? But she ran through the mental list! She turned around, looking to the kitchen to her side and down to the basem-oh! She had meant to have a one-on-one talk with Christian!

"Christian!" She hollered down the stairs.

"Yo!" He called up.

"Do you want to go with me and Lily to the grocery store!?"

"Sure Mo- _Rita_!" There was a clamor of a lot of things moving around on what she guessed was his desk. Christian quickly ascended the stairs, a blanket of red laid across his face. "You heard nothing." Rita covered her mouth with her free hand, muffling her laughter. She really didn't want to make him upset, but even he had to admit that slip up was funny! Or at least, she hoped he could.

"So, why'd you want me to tag along?" Christian asked while tickling a giggling Lily, who sat next to him. Since there really wasn't enough room for the family including him, Christian wasn't in the car often. As such, he usually tossed a mental die to see where he'd sit (cute babies heavily influencing where that die would land). Man, did he felt bad he didn't play with her more: she was so fun to feed attention!

"Well, we haven't talked in awhile, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to see how you're doing. Besides, I could always use an extra hand with the groceries."

"Is that why you brought the baby?"

"No, she's just there to look adorable. Isn't that right, Lily!?"

"Ocery hop!" Lily squealed before cutely laughing. Passenger and driver let out d'aws. When she hadn't pooped her diaper or crying, she was nothing short of adorable!

"I wish sometimes they stayed this way forever." Christian lamented almost solemnly. 

"Trust me kid, it gets pretty old when you've had as many kids as me." So many babies and first steps and potty training and first days of school and restless nights. Oddly enough she didn't realize it until now, but life since Lori had been both super eventful and repetitive at the same time.

"Then why do you keep making them?" Christian asked. An awkward pause permeated the whole car.

"...okay, I'll admit it doesn't get old."

"Ha!"

"Well, at least I didn't call me "Mom" on accident." Rita shot back playfully. When he failed to respond, she looked back through the rearview mirror. Christian's face was smeared in crimson again as he crossed his arms and looked out the window.. Then a cracked formed at the corner of his mouth that rippled across his lips. Chuckles came from him and the baby.

"Fair enough, dude." He smiled as he gazed at the neighborhood as it passed them.

"It's just...Mom used to take me out with her to get groceries. I guess I subconsciously associate that with her. Or something, I don't know." It was always late night, around ten or eleven at night. He'd be in his room, she'd come in and ask if he wanted to tag along. He'd always say yes because he enjoyed getting out of the house and being with her. The lack of traffic and relative quiet of their Chicagoan suburb always filled him with a sense of place.

But he wasn't there, he was in a suburb in Michigan and different dimension to boot. As the its and bits of those memories came back together to form a picture, Christian felt a painful longing in his chest, his heart trying to claw out and grab it.

"Oh, I didn't-?"

"Nah, you're cool. It's just weird brain stuff. Blegh." A tiny hand suddenly grabbed his middle finger, causing Christian to gasp. Lily beamed him an innocent smile, and his heart stopped clawing and started doing flips. "Aww, Lily! You know how to make any situation less sad, don't you!?" He exclaimed as he resumed playing with her. Rita allowed herself a sigh of relief. He seemed to be collecting himself fine enough, but she should've guessed that there were still parts of him that hadn't fully adjusted. Thankfully, she noticed her kids were doing their best to help out if they could. And it also seemed they were trying to avoid throwing him in the chaos, at least for now.

At least she _hoped_ that was the case.

"Still, there wasn't anyone else who could give you a hand with the groceries? Not even Linc?" Rita heaved out a frustrated sigh at the mention of her son.

"Apparently not. I thought he could handle getting the groceries by himself, but all he managed to do was get banned from the store!" Well, that was information Christian wasn't aware of. Lincoln? Kicked from a store?

"I haven't known him that long, but that doesn't seem like it's in his character." Rita let out a more dissapointed and quieter sigh.

"I don't know, his sister's might have had something to do with it. But I couldn't let him off the hook for failing to get our entire family's worth of groceries!" Christian squirmed in his seat as she spoke.

"You're right." He conceded. "Still, I don't know. Maybe it's because I haven't been punished in...forever really, that just seems a bit much to me." He admitted. From the basement, it was hard to see having a rather uncomfortable and serious conversation such as this with Rita. Yet again, they'd always pop up in unexpected or even unwanted places.

"You haven't been punished in how long?" Rita asked, more hung up on the more casual information to the teen.

"I don't remember, I think the last time I was ever grounded was in...elementary school? I mean, it's not like I wasn't ever threatened with getting the book thrown at me, so…" He trailed off, not entirely sure how to finish his statement. But it was enough for Rita, who took a moment to process what he just told her. Never punished since elementary school? Obviously he was a good kid from what she had gathered, but given her kids general need for steady discipline, she could almost disbelieve him.

"Wow, you must be super well behaved to not have been disciplined in so long!" Christian squirmed again in his seat, his eyes focusing again on the passing outside world.

"...I mean, I guess." He ceded. Rita heard a sigh, but for the sake of giving him a break, decided against pressing further. "Anyways, you wanted to see how I was doing? I think I'm doing really okay." A smile pushed through.

"When I got into this car, I didn't think I'd be pushing it back home!" Christian wearily admitted as he and Rita guided Vanzilla up the driveway. The old girl heart-attacked as they came back. If it weren't for Lynn strong arming him into beefing up his stamina he probably would've clocked out half way there.

"It happens sometimes, nothing too special!"

"For you guys!? Of course not!"

"A little less smart-aleck, a little more pushing!" The two let out exasperated groans as they, with a final push, forced Vanzilla into the place she should've driven to begin with, but hey, they were finally home! As they hunched over and were finally catching their breaths, they heard the front door swing open. An uncountable amount of footsteps stampeded the van, voiced and grunts and 'ows!' and bag rustling. The stampede then left the van and faded into the house, muffled after the slamming of the door. By the time they looked up, all that was left was a aloof Lily raising her arms at her mother.

"Poo poo!" Rita picked her up and gave her a wet smooch on the cheek.

"Great job, Chri-" The front door suddenly swung open again, this time only Lynn Jr. walking out, trying her best to remain calm. She closed the door and hurried onto the front lawn. There was a pause, and then her hands grabbed her shirt, yanked it in half, revealing her undershirt and began to beat her chest like bongos and howled in victory.

Christian hadn't been this confused since he woke up in the parent's bedroom.

"Oh yeah, I forgot she started doing that." Rita remarked with mild surprise in her voice.

"How do you forget _that?"_ Christian asked with a hand pointed at Lynn. Rita smiled at him and shrugged. She casually walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not sure what you're celebrating about, but congratulations honey." Lynn stopped her celebration, folding her arms across her chest and smirking pridefully.

"I brought in the most groceries from Vanzilla. When we saw you and Christian pushing the car, we all made a bet about it." Christian's brows instantly furrowed.

"Wait, you saw us a block away?"

"Yeah! Lisa had a telescope and-"

"Why didn't you help us!?" Christian loudly exasperated. Lynn shrugged and Rita snorted.

"Because it's more fun to race for groceries than push Vanzilla for the millionth time." Christian stood there, dumbfounded and glaring at his personal trainer. She responded with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

"Hey sport!" Lynn Sr. chirped as a slightly panting Christian entered the kitchen. He turned and gave a slight wave before walking to and twisting on the sink. He cupped his hands under the flowing water and began to drink from the small pool. To the father of the house of thirteen, this wasn't even remotely the weirdest thing he had seen, but it was still odd.

After loudly slurping up the soothing water, Christian turned off the sink and sighed in relief.

"Um, why didn't you use a cup?" Lynn Sr. asked.

"Cups are just a middleman." Christian matter-of-factly stated. "That, and I was lazy." Turning to the head of the household, he noticed that he was standing in front of two large stainless steel pots on the stove, being lit by a flame underneath. Suddenly, regular water wasn't the only thing filling his mouth. A loud gurgle filled the room as they both looked at Christian's stomach.

"Turns out pushing a van a block made me hungry. What's for dinner?" Lynn Sr. smugly closed his eyes, grinned, and popped the collar of his shirt.

"Nothing special, just my world class spaghetti and meat sauce." Christian sharply gasped and raised his arms.

"Yesssss, spaghetti!" Christian cheered. Lynn Sr. beamed and went giddy on the inside (and a little bit on the outside from his arm shake and squee). None of his kids were as into cooking as he was, but now there was a golden opportunity he could stir up.

"Say, if you're so excited about spaghetti, how about you help me make it!" He proposed excitedly. Christian was taken aback by the proposition, awkwardly chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I don't know man, I never really cooked before." Lynn Sr. quickly waved the confession away.

"Pfft, don't worry about it, spaghetti's simple to cook." He reached into the cupboard and pulled out two large blue boxes of spaghetti. "The water's already boiling, all you need to do is pour it in!" Christian hesitated for a moment, but like any other time he had any doubts, he just swallowed it out of respect for the Loud getting him to do something. He took the boxes, ripped them open, and dumped the delicious contents into the boiling water.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it? And now all you have to do is occasionally stir that and the sauce until the oven timer goes off!"

"Huh. That was deceptively easy." Was that really it?

"Well, when you're learning from a professional like me, it isn't that hard." Christian chuckled and sighed.

"Dude, in this house is a professional something. I'm gonna walk out of here an ace of all trades by the end of this."


	23. Trace Your Steps

Normally when you heard music coming out of Luna and Luan's room, it was obnoxiously loud and proud. It was in your ears and everywhere around you, and it would wear you down at times. But if you had went past the door recently, soft, slow, and broken acoustic guitar strums would have been the only thing you heard.

Granted it had actually been _worse_ earlier, but steadily it had improved over a few days. It'd probably cross into "decent" territory soon, or at least that's what Luna figured. She had been directly tuned in to Christian ever since the Rock Club last met up.

They were in purple bean bag chairs, Luna splayed across hers while Christian sat at attention, tongue poking out and eyebrows furrowed as he slowly plucked the strings. His eyes went from the note sheet at his feet to the neck of the guitar. Rhythm had been slowly forming as time went on, but lacked particular depth.

"Am I doing alright?" He asked while reclining a bit into his chair. Luna raised her arm towards the sky and raised a thumb.

"Yeah dude, you're getting rad!" She cheered, causing Christian to get all warm and giddy in his chest and his cheeks. He would have been lying if he said that a large portion of why he was doing this was for her.

"C'mon Luna, don't _string_ him along!"

Christian let out a slight chuckle (even if it was at his expense) while Luna groaned loudly.

"Seriously though, you're _strumming_ up memories of when Luna first started. You're doing pretty okay, actually."

"You think so?" Christian asked with a genuine wonder.

"I don't think, I _guitarentee_ it! Hahahahaha!"

This time, both musicians groaned loudly. Suddenly, the door opened and Leni walked in with what looked like a sheep's worth of yellow string strung around her arm tightly, the other guiding a single thread from the hallway into the room. Her eyes were trained on the trail behind her, not looking at the three people who were staring at her. As if sensing this, she turned around and shot them a wide, innocent smile.

"Oh, hey guys!" She chirped as she gave a slight wave, then immediately walked out into the hall, leaving a loop of her yellow string inside the room. The three stared at it, then each other, then the door.

"What just happened?" Christian asked, eyebrow raised.

"Leni just happened, dude." Luna answered. There was another moment of pause, before Christian gently laid down his guitar and rose from the bean bags with Luna, Luan getting up from the bed behind them. They slowly walked out of the open-door Leni left behind and into the hall: the whole hallway was wrapped with thick strands of string ducking in and out of each room, so thick and tangled it was like Rapunzel had decided to drunkenly tour the house. Peaking their heads out of their doors were every sibling. Their voiced discontent coagulated into one broad confused complaint, organized quickly by a two gavel-like bangs. Lori, who had taken her a shoe off and thwacked the wall, cleared her throat.

"I know everyone is confused, but literally we need to calm down. Did anyone see where Leni went?" Everyone looked around, the string spreader nowhere to be seen. Lincoln pointed towards the stairway, where a single strand of string led down.

"She must've gone downstairs." Everyone wordlessly agreed as they all filed downstairs to find the front door open, the trail extending outside in front of the house.

"Why is she even doing this?" Lola whined, her arms firmly folded across her chest.

"Maybe she's been possessed by a demon, and it's luring us into a trap to harvest our souls." Lucy monotoned. The whole group paused and looked at her funnily, especially Christian.

"Uh, I sincerely doubt that's the case." He nervously said.

"It's always a possibility, and I know the techniques to comba-"

"Ohlooktheresheis!" Lynn hurriedly interrupted with a point out the front door. Leni was standing outside on the lawn, hand on her chin in ponderance.

"Sigh." Lucy let out as the rest of the group rushed outside to confront her absent-minded sister.

"...the mall? Or did I go to the woods after-oh hi, guys!" Leni happily greeted.

"Leni, what potential logical reason could you have for coating every square foot of our living areas in an excessive amount of fibers?" Lisa questioned.

"Uhhhhh?" Was all Leni could utter at all the jargon.

"What she meant to ask," Lincoln stepped in, "was why did you leave string all over the place?" Leni's face jolted in realization, the cogs in her head kicking it into high gear.

"Ooooooh, that's what you meant! Well, I heard that when you lose or forget something, the best thing to do is try to retrace your steps! But I tried that at first and realized that drawing _all_ of my footsteps was just silly! So I thought that using string would be _totes_ easier!"

"What?!" The group exclaimed, but Christian chuckled. He knew Leni was kinda un-orthodox, but this was just crazy!

"I lost my sunglasses! See?" Leni pointed to her head, and the whole crowd sharply gasped: they were so focused on the string they didn't realize her glasses were missing!

"I mean, ya gotta hand it to her dudes, she had the right idea." They all nodded and murmured agreements. "But Lenster, you don't gotta _literally_ trace your steps! That's bonk!" Christian snorted.

"Bonk?" Luna gave him a light punch to the shoulder, which he rubbed away, still smiling. Lori stepped forward and placed a hand on Leni's shoulder.

"You literally could've asked for help, Leni. We're here for you." The group, continuing to act as one, all cast in their concurrence. Despite this, Leni looked down at her feet and rubbed her arm.

"I know...anyways, thanks guys."

"You said you wanted to trace your steps? Lincoln asked. Leni dutifully nodded.

"Yep! I did a lot of things yesterday, and I don't exactly know when I lost them."

"Including going into all of our rooms?" Lana asked.

"I was looking for Cliff to make sure he didn't have my tongue, then I gave up and came out here to get the worm."

"Excuse me?" Lisa asked with exasperation.

"Y'know, the early bird gets the worm! Maybe I should've made a bird outfit…" Leni said, crafting a design in her head before shaking the thought out of her head. "Anyways, my sunglasses are definitely not out here!" She wasn't wrong, they were nowhere to be seen on the lawn.

"Well, where did you go next?" Christian asked, completely unsure how far this rabbit hole went.

"Well…"

"Ok great, we're literally in the woods now." Lori sighed. The trees were almost at full-leaf level after the harsh winter, green breathing into nature again. Birds flew all around, filling the air with song that drifted with the breeze. If they weren't scrounging around for a pair of sunglasses, it would have probably been refreshing. At least for anyone but Lana, who was running around, rolling in dirty and generally getting completely filthy, much to Lori's visible chagrin.

"Leni, we aren't going to be able to comb every part of the woods." Lincoln warned.

"What were you even doing out here?" Christian asked.

"Well, I tried to find myself in nature, but apparently I'm totes good at hide and seek: I couldn't find me anywhere!" Groans and sighs rang out throughout the area. Lisa produced her notepad and jotted something down before continuing her search

"Leni, it's of my _beleaf_ that you need to stop taking everything so literally!" Luan said. "It just means you go outside and enjoy nature, silly! There's no second you running around!" Leni hung her head and sighed.

"Yeah, that makes more sense…" Christian's stomach tanked in empathy. He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Len." He comforted. "You're fine." Leni perked up and gave a weak smile.

"Leni, we aren't going to be able to search through the entire area," Lincoln brought up once more, "so do you remember for certain if you had it when you left here?" Leni hmmed and closed her eyes, conjuring all her brain power to the past.

" _Gee, that was a totes bust." Leni said as she walked out of the woods. Looking down, her dress and flip flops managed to avoid getting dirty during that short time. Today wasn't turning out well at all. She reached up and brought down her sunglasses, flicking them onto her eyes. But she couldn't see out of her right eye at all now!_

" _Omg, I'm half blind now!" Suddenly, a gust of wind came up from behind her, removing a leaf from the frames and sending it soaring through the trees._

 _Upon blinking a few times, Leni phewed with relief with the fact she wasn't blind after all. She took off her glasses and looked down, and gasped again._

" _Omg, now they're dirty! I gotta fix this!"_

"Yeah!" Leni exclaimed. "I had to get them cleaned!"

"Where did you go to do that?" Lisa asked.

"I mean, the mall is pretty Leni when you think about it." Luna pointed out as they entered the mall. Normally it held all sorts of wonder and joys, was an obstacle that they had to deal with. Christian still felt it was pretty cool as he bit into a warm cinnamon soft pretzel.

"But why would she head straight to the mall from the woods?" Lynn asked.

"Because I had to shop till I dropped, and I figured 'it's the mall, so it _has_ to have something to help me!"

"Hmm…" Lisa let out as she jotted down something in her notepad. Christian leaned over and looked at was written down.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Just a hypothesis at the moment, nothing more…" Christian looked at her confusedly, before returning his attention back to Leni.

"Alright, everyone: spread out and comb the mall!" Lori ordered. As the siblings dispersed, she felt a buzz in her pocket and pulled out her phone. Within seconds she was already texting away.

"Goodness knows how many stores she went into, Boo-Boo Bear..."

"Okay, great, we came up with literally nothing." Lori and the others sighed as they left the mall. The sky began to adopt warmer tones by the time they left, the outside feeling calmer than when they had entered.

"Well, do you remember where you went next, Leni?"

"Uhhhhhhhh…"

" _Omg, this hiking outfit is adorbs!" Leni exclaimed she placed her sunglasses on her forehead, sparkling from the cleaner she picked up at a kiosk earlier._

" _Oooo, Stella would love this outfit! I totes need to show her!_

"Oh yeah, I went to Stella's!"

A loud knock at the door brought Stella out of her thoughts. She took one of her earbuds out, listening for the sound again just in case it was her dog messing around down stairs. The knock came again and she took out her other ear bud, quickly hopping up from her bed."

Just a second!" She called loudly. Stella wondered who it was as she quickly jogged down the stairs. She opened her front door to reveal none other than Leni Loud.

"L-Leni?" She felt her cheeks quickly beginning to heat up. That's when she noticed her best friend Christian the rest of the Loud's, she shook her head to snap out of it. "Hey! ...Hey? What are y'all doing here?" Stella's eyebrows knit together.

"Hey Stel!" Leni chirped with a wave and a raised leg.

"Leni lost her shades dude," Luna explained, "and she said she came over here at one point."

"Do you know if she had them when she left or not?" Christian asked.

"Huh, that's a good question..." Stella paused, her fingers tapping at her chin as she thought.

 _"Gosh, I could totes go hiking all the time now!" Leni cheered as she rose up from a pose from her belly. "I'm, like, so happy you love this outfit too! Stella snapped another quick picture after Leni rose from the ground._

" _It looks amazing on you, Leni!" Stella snapped another picture, "You look beautiful in anything." She whispered… wait, did she say that out loud?_

 _"I figured you'd know! Beauty is in the eye of the beeholder after all. I saw you holding your bee and knew you'd get it!" She pointed to Stella's bed, where a small and fuzzy bee was stuffed in-between multiple pillows_

 _"Holding my-?" Stella glanced over at where Leni was pointing, "Oh, Bee-holder!" Stella giggled at Leni's ditziness. "Yeah, that's Señor Miel, or well- Mr. Honey." Stella set her camera down on the desk and walked over to her stuffed pet, picking him up. "Do you wanna be the bee-holder?" Stella glanced to Leni, giving a shy smile._ _Leni sharply gasped, her eyes shimmering droplets of honey._

 _"Totes!" She grabbed Mr. Honey and snuggled with him, squeezing him in-between her arms and her chest. "Does this mean that my eyes have beauty too since I'm holding a bee?"_

" _Of course! Your eyes always have beauty, Leni." Stella blushed a little, giving her friend a smile._ _Leni blushed a little back and giggled._

 _"Thank you, Stelly~" She reached to her sunglasses and straightened them out before sighing. "I should probably get going now, my parents don't like it if we stay out after sunset unplanned."_

" _Oh yeah, I totes get it." Stella nodded and frowned a little sadly, adopting the word she had heard her friend use many times before. "Need me to walk you home?"_

"Oh, it's no problem! Happy to help!" Stella gave the group a _nd frowned a little sadly, adopting the word she had heard her friend use many times before, "Need me to walk you home?"_

 _"Suresies!"_

"Okay then. Thank you for your help." Lori said.

"Oh, it's no problem! Happy to help!" Stella gave the group a smile. "...Do you guys want some drinks before y'all go? I have hot cocoa!"

"Sure!" The whole group shouted as they poured into Stella's house.

By the time they got home, the sun was halfway swallowed by the horizon. The weary group entered the house.

"Sorry I had you guys chase a goose for me…" Leni said. "Thank goodness I didn't try to actually chase one yesterday…"

"Hold on sister unit," Lisa asked, "I've been developing a hypothesis regarding the pattern in which you selected your activities the past twenty-four days." Everyone turned their heads and let out huhs.

"You mean that you think you know why she did what she did?" Christian asked.

"That is correct."

"Then why not just tell us th-"

"Given Leni's gullibility, I can only assume that something or someone directly influenced her to pursue these clichés and metaphors and literal physical goals." Lisa explained. "Leni, were you given any instructions that told you to accomplish these inane and idiotic tasks?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhh, my Creative Writing teacher gave us all this?" Leni responded as she pulled out a piece of paper out of seemingly nowhere (making Christian do a double take). Lisa grabbed it from her hands, and the whole group huddled around.

"You have to be kidding me." Lisa remorsed.

"What is it, dude!?"

"C'mon, I could've practiced for the big game today, but I spent it on this, tell us!"

"It's literally just an assignment to write a poem about a cliché." Lori deadpanned. The whole group fell silent as they stared at the piece of paper. A sniffle broke the silence as Leni rubbed her eyes.

"I'm totes sorry guys...I realized that they weren't literal instructions until I got home last night. A-and I lost my sunglasses too, and I had all of you guys help me look for them all day and I just-" Suddenly, she was wrapped by twelve hugs at once.

"Don't worry about it, Leni. You're fine." Christian reassured. "We all do stupid stuff sometimes."

"Oh yeah?" Lynn asked smugly. "What's something stupid you've done?" Christian's face suddenly lost what little color it already naturally had.

"That's for another time, right now we're consoling Leni. We doing a good job?" Leni giggled and nodded, wiping away the formations of tears at her eyes.

"Totes!"

They entered the house and into the living room. Inside, the household matriarch faced away from them, vacuuming the living room. Her ears perking up, she switched it off and turned to her children. They all loudly gasped. Sitting atop Rita's brow was none other than Leni's glasses!

"Uh, kids? You alright?"

"Mom! Where did you find my glasses!" Leni asked as she rushed over.

"What do you mean 'find'? You lent them to me yesterday!"

"Really?" The kids asked.

"You said something about 'sharing is caring' and went to your room when you got home."

"Awwwwwwwwww!" The kids announced.

Finally, with the sun set, Christian, Luna, and Luan finally reassumed their positions and proceeded on like the day hadn't happened.

"That was fun." Christian softly said. Luna chuckled.

"Yeah, and no one had to strong arm you into something this time."

"Shush."

(Author's Note: Kept ya waiting, huh? Sorry for the delay guys, I've just been losing a lot of steam with this fic for whatever reason. I _might_ be having a second wind soon? But absolutely no promises. Either way, I think this fic is approaching the twilight chapters and might be ending relatively soon. There's nothing worse than a fic with no ending, and I don't want to lose steam before I can finish on accident. Regardless, I hope Lost N' Loud is still treating you all fairly and I can't wait to hear back from all of you c: Thanks for reading!- Pixel Cat)


	24. Season Of Love

"Oh god, the club's meeting up tomorrow, aren't they?" Christian squeaked as he unclipped the guitar case with two clicks pulling out his guitar. He barely paid any attention to himself plopping down in his bean bag chair and twisting and tweaking it. Luna, who had already been flopped onto one of the bags, nodded with the familiar relaxed grin he always loved seeing.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited to show them how far you've come, dude!" She chirped, beaming brightly. Christian awkwardly chuckled and kneaded the back of his neck. The friction seemed to make him nervous sweat more.

"Well…"

"...well what?" Luna piqued, straightening in her chair. An empty, curious, tense silence passed before Christian sighed.

"I'm not sure I'm ready." Luna looked at him blankly, scanning him up and down before widely smiling and chuckled. Instantly, a knot formed in his stomach at the thought she might be laughing at h-

"You don't think they'll care, do you?"

"...uhhhhhhh-"

"Dude, how much did you know about guitars before coming here?"

"Nothing?"

"And how much do you know now? I mean, you've already tuned the guitar without even thinking about it!" Christian looked down at his lap and realized he had already set up without noticing.

"And you've been making good progress on that one song from that one game you like, Endless Sea or whatever."

"Endless Ocean: Blue World." Christian corrected instantly. Luna shot her pointer finger at him and looked at him ecstatically.

"See? Look at you! You're on top of your junk right now!" She suddenly leaped forward to Christian, smooshing into his shoulder and in his face. Her hands plopped onto his head and began to ruffle his hair. "You're using your noggin' _way_ too much right now, bro. Just do it!"

In her voice, Christian noticed, there wasn't ever a single ounce of doubt. All he could hear was how utterly confident and _alive_ she was. Passion upon passion was packed into her movements and her words. He admired and loved that about her in ways he couldn't feel like he was capable of describing. That's probably why he had been thinking about it so much recently.

He sighed and shuffled a bit in his seat, Luna's touch making it hard to concentrate. Visualizing the small island the game he played long ago, he began to play. Thoughtlessly, the song flowed through his fingers into the guitar and out into the room. It barely felt real that this was actually happening, but the pure joy on Luna's face told Christian that no, this _was_ actually happening. And it didn't stop abrubtly, either: it kept going on for at least a minute until he was sure that enough had been heard.

"Duuuuuuuuude!" Luna exclaimed as she rose to her feet and threw devil's horns. "Listen to you! I knew you could do it!" Christian's chest swelled for a moment with warm mix of relief, joy, and pride at once. He shot up from the chair and swiftly wrapped Luna in a tight hug, to which she tightly squeezed back.

"Thank you so much, dude!"

"Don't mention dude, I love doing this with you!" They both began to dumbly laugh before separating and plopping down again.

"Yo dude." Luna said.

"Hey."

"Wanna go to a concert tonight? I've been meaning to take you to one and now's the perfect opportunity, so." Luna half smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. For a moment, Christian felt like she was _purposely_ acting cool for once, which she really didn't have to do. But he mentally digressed, a concert!

"Yeah! I'd love to go with you!" Luna once again flipped from chill to ecstatic and jumped up again.

"Rocking, love! We'll pick up the ticks on the way there." Luna Britished. Christian pulled out his phone and checked the time: 4:21 in the afternoon.

"Are we leaving soon?" Christian asked. "I'd imagine the concert would go for a few hours or something, right?" Luna chuckled, but this time shakily.

"Well you see Chris," Christian already felt nervous, "the concert is starting around 11 o'clock. We're gonna have to sneak out to go there."

"Oh…" Christian uttered, a knot firmly being pulled and squeezed inside of him. "...I-I'm not sure I want to do it, then."

"Wait, what?" Luna asked, shocked.

"I-I don't know, I'm not used to this sort of thing and I owe your parents a lot and I really don't want to break the trust I have with them." He wrapped his arms across his torso and hugged himself, trying to dig into his bean bag as if it would get him out of this situation. Christian's brain kicked into maximum overdrive trying to come up with some explanation as to why, but nothing he put together seemed to perfectly explain it.

"I've done this more times than I can count. And when I did get caught, I learned from it, so I know what I'm doing. And they won't suddenly not trust you, just ground you and be a little angry for a bit. It's fine, Chris." The concept of Lynn Sr. and Rita being angry at him filled him with an ungodly amount of dread, so the words did little to sooth.

"Still, I'm not really comfortable with doing something like that."

"Well, why?" Why was a very good question he was asking himself. She wasn't saying anything that didn't make sense to him, and yet he couldn't help himself.

"I...I don't know." He admitted.

"Don't you trust me, dude?" Luna asked, pain leaking into her voice.

"Of course I do!" Christian quickly responded. "I'm not sure I trust anyone more here!"

"Then why won't you go with me? I wanna have that experience with you!" Suddenly, Christian felt like he was being stabbed in his stomach. The cool, relaxed or excited, freeness in her voice wasn't there. He stared at the floor, not wanting to even imagine how she must look. Guilt crept into the corners of his eyes as he stood up and walked for the door.

"I think I need a minute." He shakily muttered loud enough before opening and closing the door, leaving a confused Luna behind.

"What...happened?" She asked herself. She wasn't sure if she was more upset in a sad way or a frustrated way or what. The thought of an upset Christian, however, made her side with sadness and guilt in her.

Not one to sit and wait, she made for the door but jumped back when it suddenly opened again.

"Actually," Christian said, "I probably shouldn't bail like that. I already know doesn't really help." The anxiety in his voice seemed to let up in the second he left the room, which gave Luna some slight relief. She pounced and wrapped him in another hug, this time trying to comfort him the best she could. He felt tense and stiff, more so than when she normally hugged him out of nowhere.

"Dude, are you alright?"

"I'm just scared." Christian admitted. "My parents did a good job of drilling me into not doing stupid stuff." He said with a nervous giggle. At least he was somewhat calming down, Luna thought. But still, something ingrained in his system like that wouldn't just disappear in a couple hours.

"Luckily for us, not only am I a 'stupid stuff' expert, I'm also sister to one of the tightest knit set of siblings this side of the pond, so we're in capable hands. Nothing to be scared about!" After a few seconds, Christian slacked, sighing.

"Yeah, but still-"

"How 'bout this," Luna interrupted, "you join me on a wicked journey to this post-curfew concert just once, and then you never gotta break the rules again. Deal?"

Christian stared at the ground, weighing the desire to be with and make Luna happy and his own nerves screaming at him. He looked up at her and found himself smiling. Suddenly the anxiety felt a lot less heavy.

"Deal."

The sun had set, and the Loud residence had (mostly) fallen silent. Everyone was in bed, or at the very least their rooms. At least that's what the parents believed.

Christian had merely walked out the door, but Luna had descended from one of Luan's donated handkerchief rope from their window. They would have to go on foot to where they had to go for the night, but Luna insisted it was worth it. Christian begrudgingly went with it.

Eventually, they arrived to a small two-story house. It didn't look out of place anywhere in Michigan; that was, if you ignore the scattered large pieces of random things such as vintage car parts, a statue, and what looked like an archaeological dig on the front lawn.

"What's with all the-?"

"It's their older sis's stuff, don't worry about it." They approached the front door and Luna rung the bell.

"Trust me dude, you're gonna love them!"

"I don't even know who they are!"

"It's a surprise, bro!" Christian could've been annoyed, but Luna looked far too happy for him to ruin it.

A gasp was heard from behind them as they stood on the porch. They turned and came face to face with a goliath of a girl, her almost seven-foot muscular frame looking rather intimidating in the dim streetlights. The giant's expression quickly turned to a shark toothed grin.

"Luna!" The tall girl yelled, dropping her duffle bag as she sprinted up the steps. She grabbed her and a confused Christian off their feet into a bone crushing hug.

"How's it going chum? Great to see you again!" She laughed, her thick Australian accent permeating through every word.

"It's going great, mate!" Luna beamed, unphased by the embrace. Christian, while not opposed to hugs, squirmed in the a-little-too-tight hug.

"Uh, hi!? Can I be put down, please?"

"Oh, sorry!" She dropped the two of them on their feet and stood there, smiling down at them before offering her hand to Christian.

"Anita's the name, being the King family's littlest sister is my game! Nice to meet you!"

"Uh, littlest sister?" Christian raised an eyebrow. He looked over to Luna for some sort of support, but only got a sly wink instead. What did that even mean?!

"Yup!" She smiled proudly. "You must be Christian! Luna told us a little about you in her emails. Don't worry, most of it was good stuff." Christian felt a warmth come across his face. She talked about him?

"Speaking of which," A light blush came across Anita's slightly tanned face, "How is Leni?"

"Leni's Leni, dude. You know how it is." Luna shrugged with a smile and a wink. "Rally's got the ticks?"

Anita put her hand over her heart for a brief moment and muttered something about seeing someone before nodding and returning to her regular form.

"Yeah, Rally's got the tickets! She's in the garage working on fixing up some old amps." Anita began leading them to the makeshift workshop/music studio.

"I'm so happy you're gonna meet my big sister today, too, Chrissy! She's sweet and kind and I'm sure you two are gonna get along famously!" She said as she motioned to the side entrance.

"She's probably right, y'know." Luna casually said as she walked into the studio.  
"I hope so..." Christian muttered to himself.

"Son of a-" Christian ducked as a broken guitar amp smashed against the wall above his head, making his heart stop for a second.

"Three hours of bloody time and it still doesn't work! What am I gonna give Luna as a pressie now when she gets here!?" The girl yelled. She stood around the same height as Luna barefoot, her scraggly sandy hair tied in a ponytail as she fiddled with her guitar. Steam was fuming out of her ears. Frankly, Christian was worried what would happen next.

"Sis," Anita smiled innocently "we have company!" Rally turned around to face the group with a sheepish grin.

"Heya Lu! And...you."

"Me? Hi!" Christian awkwardly waved, trying to forget that once again music had made an attempt on his life.

"Hey, Ral!" Luna greeted with a swift hug. "I'm super stoked you wanna give me a gift, but try not to kill my protege in the process, alright?"

Rally grinned as she squeezed back.

"No promises!" She joked with a wide smile. Christian audibly swallowed. "You have no idea how good it is to see you Lu! You've gotta come over some time after school once we get back to classes in a few days." She turned slightly to Christian.

"You can come too, I guess." She tacked on before she pulled an envelope out of her pocket with a smile. "But tonight, this will have to do."

Luna graciously accepted the envelope and opened it instantly. She reached in and produced tickets to some theater Christian had never heard of and a card with koalas drawn on. Luna sharply gasped at the cute lil animals!

"Awww, dudes! Thank you!" She grabbed the two sisters and pulled them into a tight hug. The two sisters hugged back, three friends united again

"Well," Anita called to Christian "don't just stand there: a group hug means everyone, right?" Pulling him into the fray as they hugged. Christian, unable to counter that logic, embraced the hug. After a few seconds, they all separated.

"Looks like we gotta head out dudes, show's already started and we need to hustle. We'll all chill soon, I promise!" Luna said.

"I'm gonna hold you to that" Rally called out after them as Anita waved goodbye.

"Later, dudes!" Luna called.

"Bye, guys!" Christian followed up as they exited the garage. Christian looked back, then leaned in to Luna's ears. "That was _awwwwkard._ " He whispered harshly. She giggled and punched his arm.

"You were fine, Chris!"

"Is there anyone else I don't know about you need to introduce me to?"

"Well, there's my groupie Chunk and my little friends Tabby."

"Why am I not surprised."

The old theater looked unassuming, with its dull red bricks making a large cube in the midst of other large brick cubes in a downtown section of town Christian never knew existed. The line only contained around ten people excluding themselves. Security consisted of a semi-built bouncer who looked more bored than anything else.

"I think I was expecting something a bit bigger." He admitted to Luna as the line skootched forwards.

"Why's that, dude?"

"You're more of a 'go big or go home' kind of person." Christian said. "Y'know, big name bands, big crowds, maybe a riot or something, I dunno." He shrugged. Luna cracked up loudly at the accuracy.

"There wouldn't be a riot, but otherwise you got my number there. You're a more low-key dude yourself, so I figured for your first show you'd like something small. You do like it, right?" Christian heart warmed at the consideration.

"Yeah, dude!" He chirped, suddenly smiling widely. Luna felt nothing but pride and relief that he seemed to be over his anxiety. The whole point of this was to him happy, after all.

The line smoothly flowed into the entrance, muffled music and cheering vibrating through. They handed over their tickets and entered the dimly lit remnants of a theater foyer. People loitered about on torn up sofas and chairs. The source of the noise, Christian guessed, was through the double doors with bright lights screaming through the bottom that laid across the room.

There was no time wasted in approaching. He could feel the vibrations as they closed in. It reminded him of whenever Luna performed for him, but mostly of the first time he heard her and was unused to it.

"You ready, bro?" Luna asked. Christian, with no hesitation remaining, turned to her and nodded. Luna's hand grabbed his own and he felt like the room spontaneously combusted.

"Stay close!" With their free hands, the grabbed the knobs in front of them and entered the chaos together.

The auditorium was plunged in black, the only thing illuminated was the band on stage who looked to be kids around their age. The crowd flowed like an ocean of ink, somehow drawing Christian's eyes more than the performance. He didn't have time to think as Luna's guiding hand held his clueless hand, leading them through the aisle and into the crowd. He held on for dear life, not wanting to slip and lose himself.

Within what had to have been less than a minute but felt like more, they now somehow were right below the lights of the stage. Their hands remained clutched, their fingers sliding in-between one another's and locking. They looked at one another, and through the darkness they swore the other was blushing. Hushed by the noise was their laughter, which they could feel through each other's hands.

Attention went back to the stage, where some rock n' roll song was being played. Christian couldn't guess but Luna knew it before they even entered the building. But it really didn't matter to Christian. He was here and Luna was here and the music was good and he was gonna be okay. Maybe this is what Nirvana or Heaven was to supposed to be like, he thought. The world's problems faded. All that mattered was the music and the person you were holding his hands with. It was all so perfect. For the first time he could remember, he was okay. And it was all thanks to…

Her. It was all thanks to Luna.

His dumb heart picked up its pace. His chest was filled with a silly, happy warmth. You got it now, you big dummy! You loved her! And it's not freaking you out because it's her and she's the reason you feel so right and you should just enjoy it for what it is! That's what she'd want! And he wanted it too, he realized, and contently rolled with it.

The band slowed down to a crawl, the only instrument in motion a quiet drum beat.

"Anyone wanna gander at the guitar solo? I'm no glory hound and I wanna see how lit this audience is tonight." Lead guitar dude announced. The crowd freaked out, many people crying out to get his attention. Luna begrudgingly let go of Christian's hand and leapt on stage.

"I got this, love!" She said as she grabbed his guitar and pick, taking a breath and beginning to absolutely shred. The whole audience grew louder than it had all night, the hype taking control. To Luna, this wouldn't be as big of a deal. But when she looked down and saw how star struck and happy and _alive_ Christian looked, it became the most important performance of her life.

Ever since they first hung out, she realized how chill and real Christian was. She also realized how much Christian was restraining himself. He could be, was hesitation incarnate. But she saw the potential in him as soon as he laughed off being launched the day he arrived. He got along well with everyone in her family and beyond. And to think he was basically hand delivered to them by the universe or whatever. She felt so lucky to be able to play for him, or make him laugh, or to hold his hand.

The solo ended, and she returned the guitar, displaying devil's horns to the roaring, rabid crowd. Locking eyes with Christian, she jumped forwards hi-ooooooooh, Sam was kinda right.

It was the season of love she just entered.

Christian had a second to react to the rocker rocketing towards him. He tried his best to catch her, but whatever he grabbed wasn't enough to stop her and they both fell to the cold ground. The crowd's cheers easily drowned out their yelps.

(Author's notes: first off, gotta thank Damajics on Tumblr for not only letting me use his ocs, but also rping with me, as well as editing this chapter for me! Thank you so much, dude! Secondly, owo it happened and I hope it was gud! Direct sequel chapter will happen eventually, not sure when. Please enjoy! - PixelCat)


	25. Encore

" _Why am I so stupid?"_ Luna and Christian both hissed at themselves mentally. The two had just exited the dark, pulsing venue into the calm moonlit night, Luna hopping on one leg, her weight supported by Christian's shoulder.

Luna couldn't believe after _years_ of crowd-diving experience, when it suddenly found _epic importance,_ she botched it! Christian's first concert! The concert after Linc's first, where she swore she'd never screw up another loved one's first concert! And she whacked it up anyways! The whole time she was walked out she focused on the ground and not what she assumed would be disappointed eyes.

Christian couldn't believe that he had managed to do nothing: he was standing there, she dived onto him, but he just sat there and let it happen! Granted there was zero warning, and his emotions were going wild at that moment, but still!

...he sighed begrudgingly as he acknowledged that it was not remotely what happened.

"I'm gonna let you down, okay?" Christian warned. Luna nodded and felt herself lower onto the concrete curb. Silence reigned as neither said or did anything. They were preoccupied with the warmth and sharp emotions in their chests.

"Hey, I'm sorry dude." Luna broke the silence.

"What for?" Christian asked, swallowing his nerves. She didn't actually…?

"I jacked up your first concert, and now we're-"

"Who cares about the concert!? You're hurt!" He wasn't having it and pointed at Luna's booted foot.

"I care about the concert, man! I wanted you to have the raddest time of your life! And I ruined it by jacking up something I've done a zillion times before and-"

"Luna, dude, I had a great time!"

"How!? We were in there for like ten seconds!"

"It was like, at least five minutes, and those were the best five minutes I've had since getting here!" Christian finally joined her on the curb, tucking his legs into his chest. "You didn't mess anything up, end of discussion."

"But-!"

"No buts, _end of discussion."_ Christian said, the final words scraping against frustration. Luna hung her head down and loudly sighed.

"Sorry if you're-"

"Dude, it's fine!" Christian firmly exasperated. He awkwardly began to laugh. "When are you ever this apologetic?" Luna felt red rushing to her face and turned away as far as possible without snapping her neck.

"I-I dunno...I mean, you mean a lot to me and I was worried you'd be like 'not cool, dude'. You kinda sounded like it too, so..." It was Christian turn to sigh and look away, the 'mean a lot to me' line really hitting home his guilt. He tried to beat it into the irrational side of brain that that wasn't how she meant it, but it still clung on despite himself.

"Sorry, I'm just frustrated you're all self-blamey."

"Bro, is that even a word?" Luna asked with a faint smile, still looking away. Christian however turned and faced her with a goofy smile.

"You know what I meant, you ass!" Luna boldly laughed, regaining her spirits. She finally manned up and faced Christian again, her chest getting excited more in the good way again. Christian looked at her calloused hand on the curb. Feeling, he grabbed her calloused yet comfortable (and for some reason sweaty?) hand and squeezed affectionately.

"You're fine, Luna! You didn't mess anything up, I promise." As much as she wanted to continue blaming herself, Christian washed away the bad vibes as he had done before. The rockstar took a deep breath and exhaled out the guilt. Despite not needing to anymore, they still felt comfortable and _very happy_ to continue holding hands for however long they could.

But eventually they separated hands with great remorse. It was kinda corny, but they felt they had spaced out at some point. How long had they sat there, absorbing the other's eyes with their fingers intertwined.

"Is there someone we could call to get us home, since you're crippled now?" Christian asked.

"The Australians should come in handy. I'll text Luan and let her know what's up."

"Alrighty then, let's just hope we can pull this off."

"You and I? It'd be a miracle if the world could take us down!"

They were dropped off down the street from the house. Chivalrously, Christian helped Luna hobble on the sidewalk for a few seconds before he shook his head.

"Nope, this is too slow."

"Yeah, gimme a piggy back ride?" Luna asked. Christian suddenly got a shot of confidence (or maybe it was bravado) and grinned.

"Or I could do _this!"_ Christian suddenly swept up underneath her legs and scooped her up bridal style. "This is way more efficient!" Luna laughed cheerfully, kicking her legs up and down like a child on a swing.

"You nerd!" Neither realized the other blushing so intensely and had been since they gotten out of the theater. But they were enjoying themselves far too much to care.

As they entered the backyard through the garage, they could see that there was a multicolored, multiknotted mish-mash of handkerchiefs hanging from Luan and Luna's bedroom window, ending in a loop perfect to slip a foot into.

"Psst, sis!" The rocker whisper-yelled as she landed on Earth. Luan poked her head out and waved. She tugged the rope behind her and gave a thumbs up.

"You gonna be alright?" Christian asked. Luna smirked and punched his shoulder for the millionth time since meeting.

"I'm sweating you sneaking in through the back door more than anything, dude." Her partner-in-crime smirked back and punched her shoulder right.

"Midnight snacking and stealth games have granted me Navy Seal powers, I'll be fine." The two stood there, smiling into each other's eyes. Slowly and tenderly, Luna leaned up and pulled him into a hug. He fluidly reciprocated, and the two held close. People often said that it felt longer, minutes or hours longer, that moments of connection lasted. To these two, it lasted just short of totally satisfying.

Don't get too into it, they warned themselves. No use risking anything so soon.

Looking down upon the two, the kooky gears in Luan's head started turning and grinding. She knew her sister, having shared a room together for the majority of their lives. Luna hugs with friends tended to be quicker and rougher. When the hype was turned down and she really cared about you, she was unapologetically soft and sentimental. When you were family, she gave you the hug she was giving Christian. But she also gave Sam that kind of hug when they-wait for the punchline...

Were dating. When Luna was head-over-boots for her.

Luan wasn't dumb, this could easily be her wanting to see the two's happiness blossom like squirt flowers on a summer's day. The loud, abrasive, party that was her sister in love with an easy-to-like, adaptable but apprehensive dork?

Oh god, she was shipping it now!

 _The other older sisters had to know._

A story below, the concertgoers separated begrudgingly. Luna slipped her foot into the bite and gripped the rope. She felt force lift her up as she looked down, back at Christian. He was still smiling, although it looked like it was fading a little. She looked back up and was already at the window. Luan pulled her through silently and shut it behind her.

"How are we gonna explain the sprain to Mom and Dad?" Luan whispered to Luna.

"Christian suggested we tell them I fell out of bed getting up tomorrow morn': he even said you could actually thump out of your bed for more 'authenticity.'" Luan nodded. It was a good plan, very devious, something akin to one of Lincy's plans.

Unconsciously, Luan began to grin. Nothing malicious, but certainly mischievous.

She could use a good planner like that.

Luna had gotten into her pajamas and into bed with Luan's help. It had been a few minutes, and she couldn't hear parents raised, disappointed voices. Her phone vibrated next to her and she snatched it up.

"I'm in like Flynn"

"wut?"

"I made it lmao"

Luna snorted. What a dork.

"sweet dude!"

"How's your ankle?"

"i'll live, lol,"

"You'd better!"

";)"

"O:" And then he texted again.

"Thank you for everything, I had the time of my life tonight, like I actually was a human being lol" Did she really do that much for him? Now her chest was all excited again. No way she was gonna sleep well, tonight.

"no problem dude!"

"C:" Before she could send him an equally cute face, he texted her again.

" watch?v=DFJXB-ZYTiI I know you're supposed to make me into a rockstar, but I feel like I should expose you to my kind of music. Specifically, the stuff that's perfect for past midnight imo. Consider it a ty present!" He was sharing music with her? The musician felt her cheeks flush. Thankfully her handy headphones were next to her. She plugged them into the phone, put them on, and then clicked the link.

It started off kinda funny, but when the song really kicked in, it was smooth like drink on tap. Every little beat, the soothing synth: combine it with the relative calm of the night, and Christian was dead on. She felt herself yawn, not realizing how effective the music was.

Christian mentioned this kind of stuff his first day here, and she was kicking herself mentally for not asking more about it: it was no rock, but it was a close second!

Or maybe that was Christian's influence over her kicking in, which was perfectly fine too.

She figured she'd always end up with another connoisseur of the fine art of rock and roll. She just didn't realize she'd have to craft him.

Again, perfectly fine. Like Christian.

Oh god, she was falling into that hole again. She didn't want to just be focused on the music and not the person, like how she felt with Sam.

Yet again, she met Sam through music. She met Christian through some universal-thermo-hypothetical mumbo jumbo Lisa tried explaining at the dinner table one time. She liked Christian because of how he acted, not how much of a fan of the same as her music he was. Which made her more optimistic about the odds.

It was seeing him play with Lily as if she were his own blood, and likewise with her. It seemed the whole family had the same feelings towards him. Except for maybe Lisa, Christian seemed to distance himself from her for whatever reason. Something to do with the science of it all, Luna bet.

That…and Lisa was a bona fide creeper sometimes.

...maybe she could go to his world one day, see all the differences for herself. Mick Swagger apparently didn't exist there, what other weird stuff did and didn't exist there?

Speaking of his world, he never really talked about it, huh? Or his family.

Maybe she could coax that out of him, like she had his wild side. One step at a time, though. With any luck, they'd be closer on some level.

Maybe even…close-close!

Then the music cut-off, and she realized how much of a mental tangent she had went on.

The music did that? Great, now she needed more.

"yo dude, that was rad! got anymore?"

"my dude, you has no idea :3c"


End file.
